Category: Burning Issues

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Context

• The Two-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the popular “Hijab case” has delivered a split verdict. The matter will be now heard by a larger Constitution Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.
• Earlier in march 2022, stating that wearing the hijab is not an essential part of Islam and freedom of religion under Article 25 of the Constitution is subject to reasonable restrictions, a full bench of the Karnataka High Court had dismissed a batch of petitions filed by Muslim girls studying in pre-university colleges in Udupi seeking the right to wear hijabs in classrooms.
• This decision of the Karnataka HC was challenged in the Supreme court which now received this verdict.
• Thus, in this edition of the burning issue we will be analyzing the ‘Hijab Issue’; the verdicts of different courts, and finally a way forward.

What is a Hijab?

• Hijab is a scarf or clothing worn by Muslim women to cover their hair to maintain modesty and privacy from unrelated males either in public or at home.
• The concept, however, is not unique to Islam but embraced by other religions too such as Judaism and Christianity. 

Different kinds of veiled clothing

• Hijab: The hijab covers the hair and chest and is common among Muslim women in South East Asia. Hijab is also a general term referring to the practice of wearing veils of all kinds. 
• Niqab: It is a veil that covers the face and head, keeping the eye area open. 
• Burqa: covers the entire body including the whole face, with a mesh window for the woman to see out of. 
• Khimar: It is a long scarf that covers the head and chest but keeps the face uncovered. 
• Shayla: A rectangular piece of cloth wrapped around the head and pinned in place. 

What is the Hijab Issue?

• The origin of the issue: The controversy erupted nationally on January 1, 2022, when six girl students of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial College in Udupi gave a press conference to protest the college authorities’ denial of permission to them to keep wearing their hijabs after they entered their classrooms.
• Student’s response: The students portrayed the ban as an attack on their religious rights as a minority. Several educational institutions protested against the Karnataka government’s compulsory uniform order and denied entry to Muslim girls wearing the hijab. This was challenged in the Karnataka High Court (HC).

How is religious freedom protected under the Constitution?

• Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion”.
• It is a right that guarantees negative liberty — which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercising this freedom.
• However, like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.

What was the Karnataka High Court decision?

• Upholding the ban: On March 15th, 2022, a three-Judge Bench of the Karnataka High Court comprising Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justices Krishna Dixit and J.M. Khazi upheld the ban on the hijab in the State’s educational institutions.
• Distinction needed: In the Judgment, the Court created a distinction between ‘Freedom of Conscience’ and ‘Religious Expression’, claiming that while conscience is an internal belief, religious expression is an outward expression of this belief. Wearing the hijab is a form of religious expression, and must be subject to the Essential Religious Practices test.
• Not an essential practice: The Court held that wearing the hijab is not an Essential Religious Practice. It did not merit protection under Article 25 of the Constitution of India, 1950.
• Should be within fundamental rights ambit: Further, the Court stated that even if it were to accept that wearing the hijab is an Essential Religious Practice, the practice would receive constitutional protection only if it did not conflict with constitutional values such as equality and dignity. The requirement that a practice must be an Essential Religious Practice for constitutional protection is a threshold requirement. 
• Do not violate the right to freedom: The Court held that the ban on the hijab in State educational institutions did not violate their Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression under Article 19(1) of the constitution.

What Supreme Court’s spilt verdict says?

(A) Arguments of SC Justice Hemant Gupta:

• Justice Hemant Gupta upheld Karnataka’s prohibitive government order of February 5, saying “apparent symbols of religious belief cannot be worn to secular schools maintained from State funds”.
• Justice Gupta held that adherence to the uniform was a reasonable restriction to free expression. The discipline reinforced equality. The State had never forced students out of State schools by restricting hijab. The decision to stay out was a “voluntary act” of the student.
• Justice Gupta held that discipline was one of the attributes students learn in schools; that defiance of rules would be an antithesis of discipline. The students had a right to education under Article 21 but not of insisting on wearing something additional to their uniform, as part of their religion, in a secular school.
• He also said ‘secularity’ meant uniformity, manifested by parity among students in terms of uniformity. Justice Gupta pointed out that the uniform is an equalizer of inequalities. If students of one faith insisted on a particular dress, others would follow suit. Permitting one religion to wear religious symbols would be an antithesis of secularism.
• Justice Gupta, agreed with the government that the “ethic of fraternity is best served by complete erasure of all differences”, especially religious. Wearing hijabs in secular schools “would stand out and overtly appear differently. None of the fundamental rights were absolute and all of them should be read together as a whole.

(B) Arguments of SC Justice Dhulia

• In his divergent opinion, Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia said secularity meant tolerance to “diversity”.
• Justice Dhulia stated that the point of whether the hijab was an essential religious practice under Islam or not was essential for the determination of the dispute. According to him, “If the belief is sincere, and it harms no one else, there can be no justifiable reasons for banning the hijab in a classroom.” The young girl petitioners had asserted their individual and not community right.
• Courts are not the forums to solve theological questions as there will always be more than one religious view on a particular religious matter
• Wearing or not wearing a hijab to school was “ultimately a matter of choice”. For girls from conservative families, “her hijab is her ticket to education”.
• Justice Dhulia disagreed with the idea of forced homogeneity. He said schools and pre-university colleges were the “perfect institutions” for children to learn the rich diversity of India and imbibe values of tolerance and accommodation.
• He also referred to the Puttaswamy judgment and in particular Justice D.Y. Chandrachud’s observations on the link between privacy and human dignity.

What is the essential religious practices test?

• Shirur Mutt case: In 1954, the Supreme Court held that the term “religion” will cover all rituals and practices “integral” to a religion.
• The test to determine what is integral is termed the“essential religious practices” test.
• The test, a judicial determination of religious practices, has often been criticized by legal experts as it pushes the court to delve into theological spaces.
• In criticism of the test, scholars agree that the court should prohibit religious practices for public order rather than determine what is so essential to a religion that it needs to be protected.
• Several instances of a court applying the test
• In a 2004 ruling, the SC held that the Ananda Marga sect had no fundamental right to perform Tandava dance in public streets since it did not constitute an essential religious practice of the sect.
• While these issues are largely understood to be community-based, there are instances in which the court has applied the test to individual freedoms as well.
• For example, in 2016, the SC upheld the discharge of a Muslim airman from the Indian Air Force for keeping a beard.
• Armed Force Regulations, 1964, prohibits the growth of hair by Armed Forces personnel, except for “personnel whose religion prohibits the cutting of hair or shaving of face”.
• The court essentially held that keeping a beard was not an essential part of Islamic practices.

Issues over the doctrine

• In the beginning, the court engaged with the question of whether untouchability, manifested in restrictions on entry into temples, was an “essential part of the Hindu religion”.
• After examining selected Hindu texts, it concluded that untouchability was not an essential Hindu practice.
• The idea of providing constitutional protection only to those elements of religion that the court considers “essential” is problematic as it assumes that one element or practice of religion is independent of other elements or practices.
• So, while the essentiality test privileges certain practices over others, it is all practices taken together that constitute a religion.

How have courts ruled so far on the issue of a hijab?

• There are two sets of rulings of the Kerala High Court, particularly on the right of Muslim women to dress according to the tenets of Islam, throwing up conflicting answers.
• In 2015, at least two petitions were filed before the Kerala High Court challenging the prescription of dress code for the NEET exam which prescribed wearing clothes with a certain dress code.
• Here the Kerala HC directed the CBSE to put in place additional measures for checking students who “intend to wear a dress according to their religious custom, but contrary to the dress code”.
• Amna Bint Basheer v Central Board of Secondary Education (2016): Here, the Kerala HC examined the issue more closely.
• The Court held that the practice of wearing a hijab constitutes an essential religious practice but did not quash the CBSE rule.
• The court once again allowed for the “additional measures” and safeguards put in place in 2015.
• Fathima Tasneem v State of Kerala (2018): On the issue of a uniform prescribed by a school, the Kerala HC held that the collective rights of an institution would be given primacy over the individual rights of the petitioner.

Way Forward

• Pluralism and inclusiveness are characterized by religious freedom. Its purpose is to promote social harmony and diversity.
• There is no one uniform code today which is mandated throughout the State. It would be a depressing response from a government that prioritizes uniformity over diversity.
• Religious fanaticism, whether by the majority or the minority, has only damaged the secular mosaic.
• Despite many criticisms of the practice of hijab being oppressive and detrimental to women’s equality, many Muslim women view the way of dress to be a positive thing. 
• The dress code was seen as a way to avoid harassment and unwanted sexual advances in public and worked to desexualize women in the public sphere to allow them to enjoy equal rights of completely legal, economic, and political status.

Conclusion

• Given the split verdict, it will be a while before the final verdict in the matter is delivered. Ultimately, it must be remembered the State has a responsibility towards the education of the girl and her future and maintaining the secular fabric in India.
• Thus the government, civil society, religious and student bodies must try to come together and look for an amicable out-of-court solution to the issue which is in the best interest of all and also reduces dependency on courts for social reforms.

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Context

• Recently, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar snubbed US  (while justifying its ties with Russia) over opting for Pakistan’s Dictatorship as a reliable partner over India.
• The minister is being praised by several experts for such graceful criticism of the US and at the same time highlights the independent foreign policy conduct of India in recent times.
• Thus, this edition of the burning issue will highlight the evolution of Indian foreign policy, its current standing and its way forward. 

What are foreign policy and diplomacy?

• Foreign Policy is a framework within which the Government of a given country conducts its relations with the outside world in different formats i.e. bilateral, regional and multilateral or global.
• Diplomacy on its part is a profession, skill and art of managing a country’s relations with the rest of the world to achieve the objectives of the country’s foreign policy. Broadly, Diplomacy can be political, economic or cultural, and ideally should work in tandem.
• As a rule, diplomacy is pursued through established diplomatic channels and mechanisms. It may or may not always be transparent and in public knowledge. At times It can be pursued through back-door channels or informal Track 1.5 /Track2 mechanisms.

Objectives of Indian foreign policy

• The first and foremost objective of India’s Foreign Policy –like that of any other country is to secure its national interests.
• The scope of “national interests” is fairly wide. In our case it includes for instance: securing our borders to protect territorial integrity, countering cross-border terrorism, energy security, food security, cyber security, creation of world-class infrastructure, non-discriminatory global trade practices, equitable global responsibility for the protection of the environment, reform of institutions of global governance to reflect the contemporary realities, disarmament, regional stability, international peace and so on.
• In short, our Foreign policy has at least four important goals– To protect India from traditional and non-traditional threats; To create an external environment which is conducive to inclusive development of India so that the benefits of growth can reach the poorest of the poor in the country; To ensure that India’s voice is heard on global forums and that India can influence world opinion on issues of global dimensions such as terrorism, climate change, disarmament, reforms of institutions of global governance, and To engage and protect Indian Diaspora.

Evolution of Indian foreign policy

(A) Phase of the cold war

• Navigating the Cold War- The NAM way – The first high point of Indian diplomacy can thus be considered to be the decision of the then leadership not to take sides in the Cold War. This led to the now well-known Policy of Non-Alignment. It was a concept which was not only not understood but also fiercely opposed by the two global camps. India paid the price for it, with the West taking non-alignment as a cover for a pro-Soviet tilt, which led to its alignment with Pakistan, including militarily.
• Leading the decolonization movement– The second, somewhat linked, the high point of that era was the role India played in becoming the voice of the former colonies of Asia and Africa and the moral and political force for decolonization. Many initiatives, epitomized by the Asian Relations Conference, were taken to give Asia its rightful place in a badly divided world.
• Relation with Pakistan and China– The third high point relates to the period of the late 1950s and 1960s when India was embroiled in wars with both China and Pakistan. Indian diplomacy was called upon to rally world opinion against the aggressors and defend India’s interests bilaterally and in the United Nations. Despite the best efforts of Pakistan and China, India managed to limit the damage to its interests in the then State of J&K, and even blunt Pakistani efforts.
• Bangladesh war The liberation of Bangladesh in 1971 and the events leading to it marked a turning point in Indian diplomacy. India successfully campaigned throughout the world to highlight the atrocities, crimes and killings perpetrated by the Pakistani forces in East Pakistan. It was a particularly daunting diplomatic task because this was also the time the US was making its opening to the Peoples’s Republic of China. Pakistan was co-opted in this effort, with the result that the Indian diplomatic machinery was pitted against the powerful US-Pakistan-China axis.

(B) Post-cold war phase

• The nuclear weapon state-The the late nineties and early 2000s witnessed other major developments. India conducted its nuclear weapons tests in 1998 and became a nuclear weapon power. A major diplomatic effort was launched across the world to explain India’s security challenges. A special channel of communication was opened with the US which led to key strategic understandings between India and the US, leading to a breakthrough in the relationship.
• Neighbourhood first- the Gujral doctrine- The Gujral Doctrine is a set of five principles to guide the conduct of foreign relations with India’s immediate neighbours. These five principles arise from the belief that India’s stature and strength cannot be isolated from the quality of its relations with its neighbours. Gujral’s policy of non-reciprocal accommodation led to the signing of a 30-year treaty between India and Bangladesh on December 12, 1996. NDA government (1998-2004) led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the United Progressive Alliance government led by Manmohan Singh have continued with Gujral’s foreign policy which emphasized the need to have “a peaceful, stable and constructive environment in India’s neighbourhood” which is being regarded as “vital for the goals of accelerated development for India and the region”. It, thus, recognises the supreme importance of friendly, cordial relations with neighbours.
• Connection to ASEAN: The Look east policy– The period 1991-1992 saw the enunciation of India’s Look East Policy. India became a sectoral partner of ASEAN in 1992 and was upgraded to a Full Dialogue Partner in 1995. In 2005, India became a Partner of the East Asia Summit process. All these moves were meant to assert India’s natural links with the rapidly growing East Asian ‘tigers’, and establish its presence in China’s neighbourhood. The “Look East” Policy was the outcome of two major events – the strategic setback to India as a result of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the balance of payments crisis of 1991.

(C) Post-2008 Financial Crisis

• Membership to BRICS- BRICS is a grouping of the five emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, mooted in the year 2001 by Goldman Sachs, these five emerging countries from different regions of the world are increasingly seen as the centre of global power transition. Coinciding with the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008-09 the main aim of the grouping is to foster cooperation, policy coordination and political dialogue regarding international economic and financial matters. India has been an active participant in this organisation from its inception. Maintaining economic growth that benefits India’s citizens in terms of job creation, GDP growth, and poverty alleviation is in the country’s national interest.
• US partnership growth– The signing of the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement, India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the lifting of sanctions on technology transfer to India all happened in 2008. Put together these were breakthroughs with major ramifications. The Agreement on cooperation on civil nuclear energy was arrived at with bipartisan support in the US, thanks to Indian diplomatic efforts. It legitimized India’s nuclear weapon program and transformed India’s relations with the US.

(D) Current Phase (2014-Till Now)  

• Balancing divergent coalitions- India’s foreign policy has been successfully managing several divergent coalitions at the same time, hence upholding its ‘strategic Autonomy’. Coalitions like SCO, RIC are being balanced with QUAD and JAI. Similarly, the Arab world is being balanced with a growing partnership with Israel and a relationship with US and G7 nations to that with Russia and China.
• From Non-alignment to Multiple alignments– The nonaligned movement has lost its earlier relevance with the end of the Cold War and India no longer refers to nonalignment as the basis of its foreign policy. In the new context, we now speak of India pursuing a policy of multi-alignment or issue-based alignment. This explains the transformations of our ties with the US that includes the signing of various foundational defence agreements and substantial defence purchases, designation as Major Defence Partner, elaborate military exercises as well as membership of the Quad and a commitment to the Indo-Pacific concept. This explains also our membership in BRICS, the SCO and the continuation of the Russia-India-China dialogue. In other words, we are pursuing our interests in all forums without either exclusivity or entering into alliances with any set of countries.
• Soft power projection- On 11 December 2014, a record 177 countries in the UN co-sponsored and voted in favour of declaring an International Day of Yoga on June 21st every year. This was an extraordinary display of India’s soft power and acceptability cutting across regions, religions, colours, and languages. Other than this, multiple temples are being opened worldwide, cultural programmes, 150 years of MK Gandhi’s Birth celebrations around the world testimonies India’s growing Soft power.
• Aid diplomacy– The diplomatic effort launched by India to help global efforts in combatting the Covid pandemic in 2020-2021, however, was unprecedented in terms of its scale and reach. It established India’s role as the pharmacy of the world. Similarly, humanitarian operations such as Vande Bharat which brought back millions of Indians during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021 were the largest such exercise conducted. Operation Ganga was launched to bring back stranded Indian students from the war zone in Ukraine in 2022. The last few years have seen a much bigger deployment of Indian diplomatic efforts in the service of Indians overseas. Today, the interests of the almost 31 million-strong Indian diaspora are a top priority for the government.
• Taking up leadership role– India has successfully created international coalitions that contribute to global welfare based on India’s national experience and strengths. These are specific and practical initiatives that bring diplomacy and real-life challenges together. Prominent among these are the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, and Traditional Medicine. We have entered into an era of proactive malalignments and building international coalitions of common interest.
• Indo-pacific construct promotion– The geo-strategic events currently playing out in the Indo-Pacific region bears a resemblance to the political environment in which ancient Indian strategic thought in Kautilya’s Arthashastra took shape. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s characterisation of the region as representing the “emergence of multi-polarity and the benefits of rebalancing”, is starkly similar to how Arthashastra describes the political landscape of the ancient mahajanapada kingdoms. In many ways, the churn in the two oceans—the Indian and Pacific—symbolises a “return of history”, to borrow a phrase used by Jaishankar at the first edition of the Indo-Pacific Business Summit in June 2021. The Indo-Pacific, seen through a maritime prism, necessitates a strategic preoccupation characteristically different from a purely continental one.

Long cherished goals of Indian foreign policy: The Challenges

• Reform global political and financial system- India since the cold war phase has been trying to reform the global political system represented by the UN General assembly, its several bodies, WTO, and IMF to make them more democratic and representative thus making them work in favour of least developed nations also.
• Permanent UNSC seat- Minister Jaishankar has aptly pointed out that excluding India which will in time be the most populous state in the world and the third largest economy would call into question the representative nature of the UNSC. India has recently started putting strongly its demand for a permanent seat at UNSC and overall UNSC reforms. India has formed a grouping called ‘G4 nations’ including Germany, japan and brazil to promote the idea of UNSC reforms.
• Pakistan conundrum- India and Pakistan, the two nuclear-armed giants of South Asia. Disputes over their shared border and the territory of Kashmir have been a recurrent source of conflict between the two countries throughout their histories, and new geopolitical alignments, changes in conventional and nuclear military capabilities, and deep mistrust continue to forestall any normalization of ties. China’s rise and the attendant great power competition have complicated both Islamabad’s and New Delhi’s strategic calculus as they both look to balance relations with Washington and Beijing.

Way forward

• Adding Ethical Values to Indian Foreign Policy: Mahatma Gandhi said, politics without principles is a death trap. India should move towards ethical persuasion, thus reclaiming moral leadership on the world stage similar to NAM.
• Becoming a Rule maker and not just a rules taker: India should actively assert itself during the formulation process of world norms, from the environment to economics.
• Balancing approach: India must remain balanced in the global rivalry between China and the U.S., as what happens in Asia affects us most. At a regional level, India should hedge Chinese expansion by cementing ties with Vietnam, Japan and Australia.
• Promote world peace: The focus of India’s foreign policy should not be limited to seeking a permanent seat in Security Council or revenge for historical wrongs but welfare and peace should be given more importance.
• Finding new partners: India needs the world for energy and other resource endowments. Finding partners who share a common interest in terms of energy security, climate change, cyber security etc is the way forward
• Focusing on neighbours also: A concerted focus on the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the Indian Ocean Rim Association of Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) is needed given China’s increasing presence in both regions.

Conclusion

• Today, India is a significant player on the global stage by its strength as a rising power. It is a member of the G20, is invited to the G7 meetings and is a lead player in Climate Change negotiations through its initiatives in this area. 
• We are living in a dynamic world. India’s foreign policy is therefore geared up to be proactive, flexible as well as pragmatic to make quick adjustments to respond to evolving situations. In the implementation of its foreign policy, India, however, invariably adheres to a set of basic principles on which no compromise is made.
• As we celebrate 75 years of our Independence, the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, we should be proud of our diplomatic history and the contributions to it by successive generations of Indian diplomats as well as governments. 

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Context

• Recently, a Tamil movie- Ponniyin Selvan I, based on Kalki’s wonderful creation of a world of the Cholas, has been released in Indian theatres.
• The movie has renewed the interest in knowing more about one of the oldest and longest-ruling dynasties in the history of Southern India spreading over four centuries.
• Therefore, this edition of the Burning Issue will talk about the Great Chola Empire and its achievements.

About the Cholas

• The Chola Dynasty was a Tamil empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in world history.
• The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE during the reign of Ashoka of the Maurya Empire.
• As one of the Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam, along with the Chera and Pandya, the dynasty continued to govern over varying territories until the 13th century CE.

Origin

• Little knowledge: There is very little written evidence for the Cholas before the 7th century CE. The main sources of information about the early Cholas are ancient Tamil literature of the Sangam Period, oral traditions, religious texts, and temple and copperplate inscriptions.
• From Asokan edicts: Later medieval Cholas also claimed a long and ancient lineage. The Cholas are mentioned in Ashokan Edicts (inscribed 273 BCE–232 BCE) as one of the Mauryan Empire’s neighbors to the South (Ashoka Major Rock Edict No.13), who was thought not subject to Ashoka, were on friendly terms with him.
• From Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: There are also brief references to the Chola country and its towns, ports and commerce in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea and the slightly later work of the geographer Ptolemy. 
• Mahavamsa: a Buddhist text written down during the 5th century CE, recounts several conflicts between the inhabitants of Sri Lanka and Cholas in the 1st century BCE.

Territorial extent

• Kaveri and Tungabhadra valley: The heartland of the Cholas was the fertile valleyofthe Kaveri river. Still, they ruled a significantly larger area at the height of their power from the later half of the 9th century till the beginning of the 13th century. They unified peninsular India, south of the Tungabhadra, and held as one state for three centuries between 907 and 1215 AD.
• Southeast Asia: The power and the prestige the Cholas had among political powers in South, South-eastern, and eastern Asia at its peak is evident through their expeditions to the Ganges, naval raids on cities of the Srivijaya empire based on the island of Sumatra, and their repeated embassies to China. The Chola fleet represented the zenith of ancient Indian maritime capacity.
• Maldives: During the period of 1010–1153 CE, the Chola territories stretched from the Maldives in the south to the banks of the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh as the northern limit. Rajaraja Chola conquered peninsular South India, annexed part of the Rajarata kingdom in present-day Sri Lanka, and occupied Maldives islands.
• North India: His son Rajendra Chola further expanded the Chola territory by sending a victorious expedition to North India that touched the river Ganges and defeated the Pala ruler of Pataliputra, Mahipala.
• Controlling Sri Vijay Empire: By 1019, he also completely conquered the Rajarata kingdom of Sri Lanka and annexed it to the Chola empire.^[6] In 1025, Rajendra Chola also successfully invaded the cities of the Srivijaya empire, based on the island of Sumatra. However, the Chola influence on Srivijava would last until 1070, when the Cholas began to lose almost all of their overseas territories. The later Cholas (1070–1279) would still rule portions of Southern India.

History of the Chola Rulers

The history of the Cholas falls into four periods:

(A) Early Cholas

• The earliest Chola kings, there is tangible evidence mentioned in the Sangam literature.
• The Sangam literature records legends about mythical Chola kings. These myths speak of the Chola king Kantaman, a supposed contemporary of the sage Agastya, whose devotion brought the river Kaveri into existence.
• Two names prominent among those Chola kings who feature in Sangam literature are Karikala and Kocengannan.
• Urayur (now a part of Thiruchirapalli) was their oldest capital. Kaveripattinam also served as an early Chola capital. 
• The Mahavamsa mentions that an ethnic Tamil adventurer, a Chola prince known as Ellalan, invaded the Rajarata kingdom of Sri Lanka and conquered it in 235 BCE with the help of a Mysore army.

(B) Medieval Cholas- The Imperial Cholas

• Little is known of the fate of the Cholas during the succeeding three centuries until the accession of Vijayalaya in the second quarter of the 9th century.
• Vijayalaya was the founder of the Imperial Chola dynasty which was the beginning of one of the most splendid empires in Indian history. He took an opportunity arising out of a conflict between the Pandya dynasty and Pallava dynasty in 850 CE, captured Thanjavur from Muttarayar, and established the imperial line of the medieval Chola Dynasty. Thanjavur became the capital of the Imperial Chola Dynasty.
• The second Chola King, Aditya I, caused the demise of the Pallava dynasty and defeated the Pandyan dynasty of Madurai in 885, occupied large parts of the Kannada country, and had marital ties with the Western Ganga dynasty.
• In 925, his son Parantaka I conquered Sri Lanka (known as Ilangai). Parantaka I also defeated the Rashtrakuta dynasty under Krishna II in the battle of Vallala.^[52]
• Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I were the greatest rulers of the Chola dynasty, extending it beyond the traditional limits of a Tamil kingdom.
• At its peak, the Chola Empire stretched from the northern parts of Sri Lanka in the south to the Godavari–Krishna river basin in the north, up to the Konkan coast in Bhatkal, the entire Malabar Coast (the Chea country) in addition to Lakshadweep, and Maldives.
• Rajendra Chola I conquered Odisha and his armies continued to march further north and defeated the forces of the Pala Dynasty of Bengal and reached the Ganges river in north India.
• Rajendra Chola I built a new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram to celebrate his victories in northern India. Rajendra Chola I successfully invaded the Srivijaya kingdom in Southeast Asia which led to the decline of the empire there.
• This expedition had such a great impression on the Malay people of the medieval period that his name was mentioned in the corrupted form of Raja Chulan in the medieval Malay chronicle Sejarah Melayu.

Later Cholas (1070–1279)

• The Later Chola dynasty was led by capable rulers such as Kulothunga Chola I, his son Vikrama Chola, and other successors like Rajaraja Chola II, Rajadhiraja Chola II, and Kulothunga Chola III, who conquered Kalinga, Ilam, and Kataha.
• However, the rule of the later Cholas between 1218, starting with Rajaraja Chola II, to the last emperor Rajendra Chola III was not as strong as those of the emperors between 850 and 1215.
• Around 1118, they lost control of Vengi to the Western Chalukya and Gangavadi (southern Mysore districts) to the Hoysala Empire.
• However, these were only temporary setbacks, because immediately following the accession of king Vikrama Chola, the son, and successor of Kulothunga Chola I, the Cholas lost no time in recovering the province of Vengi by defeating Chalukya Someshvara III and also recovering Gangavadi from the Hoysalas.

Administration and society

(A) General administration

• System of Government:  In the age of the Cholas, the whole of South India was for the first time brought under a single government. The king was the supreme leader and a benevolent authoritarian. The Cholas’ system of government was monarchical, as in the Sangam age. Aside from the early capital at Thanjavur and later on at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Kanchipuram and Madurai were considered to be regional capitals in which occasional courts were held.
• Division of territory: The Chola Dynasty was divided into several provinces called mandalas which were further divided into valanadus, which were subdivided into units called kottams or kutrams.
• Land assessment: There was an expansion of the administrative structure, particularly from the reign of Rajaraja Chola I onwards. The government at this time had a large land revenue department, consisting of several tiers, which was largely concerned with maintaining accounts. The assessment and collection of revenue were undertaken by corporate bodies such as the ur, nadu, sabha, nagaram and sometimes by local chieftains who passed the revenue to the centre.
• At the local government level: every village was a self-governing unit. A number of villages constituted a larger entity known as a kurram, nadu or kottam, depending on the area. A number of kurrams constituted a valanadu. These structures underwent constant change and refinement throughout the Chola period.
• Justice: was mostly a local matter in the Chola Empire; minor disputes were settled at the village level. Punishments for minor crimes were in the form of fines. Crimes of the state, such as treason, were heard and decided by the king himself.

(B) Military

• Army: The Chola dynasty had a robust military, of which the king was the supreme commander. It had four elements, comprising the cavalry, the elephant corps, several divisions of infantry and a navy. The Chola army was spread all over the country and was stationed in local garrisons or military camps known as Kodagams.
• Forts and palaces: The Chola rulers built several palaces and fortifications to protect their cities. According to the ancient Tamil text Silappadikaram, the Tamil kings defended their forts with catapults that threw stones, huge cauldrons of boiling water or molten lead, and hooks, chains and traps.
• Navy: The Chola navy was the zenith of ancient India sea power. It played a vital role in the expansion of the empire, including the conquest of the Ceylon islands and naval raids on Srivijaya.
• Patronization of martial arts: A martial art called Silambam was patronised by the Chola rulers. Ancient and medieval Tamil texts mention different forms of martial traditions but the ultimate expression of the loyalty of the warrior to his commander was a form of martial suicide called Navakandam. The medieval Kalingathu Parani text, which celebrates the victory of Kulothunga Chola I and his general in the battle for Kalinga, describes the practice in detail.

(C) Economy

• Economy structure: Land revenue and trade tax were the main sources of income. The Chola rulers issued their coins in gold, silver and copper. The Chola economy was based on three tiers—at the local level, agricultural settlements formed the foundation of commercial towns nagaram, which acted as redistribution centers.
• Exports: One of the main articles which were exported to foreign countries were cotton cloth. Uraiyur, the capital of the early Chola rulers, was a famous centre for cotton textiles which were praised by Tamil poets.
• Weaving: The Chola rulers actively encouraged the weaving industry and derived revenue from it. During the Chola period, silk weaving attained a high degree and Kanchipuram became one of the main centres for silk.
• Metal crafts: reached its zenith during the 10th to 11th centuries because the Chola rulers like Chembian Maadevi extended their patronage to metal craftsmen. Wootz steel was a major export item.
• Agriculture: was the principal occupation for many people. Besides the landowners, there were others dependent on agriculture.
• Internal trade: The metal industries and the jeweler’s art had reached a high degree of excellence. The manufacture of sea salt was carried on under government supervision and control. Trade was carried on by merchants organised in guilds. The guilds described sometimes by the terms nanadesis were a powerful autonomous corporation of merchants which visited different countries in the course of their trade.

(D) Society

• Origin of guilds: During the Chola period several guilds, communities and castes emerged. The guild was one of the most significant institutions of south India and merchants organised themselves into guilds. The best known of these were the Manigramam and Ayyavole guilds though other guilds such as Anjuvannam and Valanjiyar were also in existence.
• The Vellalar community: was the dominant secular aristocratic caste under the Chola rulers, providing the courtiers, most of the army officers, the lower ranks of the bureaucracy and the upper layer of the peasantry. 
• The Ulavar community: were working in the field which was associated with agriculture and the peasants were known as Kalamar.
• The Kaikolar community: were weavers and merchants but they also maintained armies. During the Chola period they had predominant trading and military roles. During the reign of the Imperial Chola rulers (10th–13th century) there were major changes in the temple administration and land ownership.
• Education: The quality of the inscriptions of the regime indicates a high level of literacy and education. The text in these inscriptions was written by court poets and engraved by talented artisans.

(E) Foreign trade

• Link to foreign markets: The Cholas excelled in foreign trade and maritime activity, extending their influence overseas to China and Southeast Asia. Towards the end of the 9th century, southern India had developed extensive maritime and commercial activity. The Tang dynasty of China, the Srivijaya empire under the Sailendras, and the Abbasid Kalifat at Baghdad were the main trading partners.
• Connectivity to China: Some credit for the emergence of a world market must also go to the dynasty. It played a significant role in linking the markets of China to the rest of the world. The market structure and economic policies of the Chola dynasty were more conducive to a large-scale, cross-regional market trade than those enacted by the Chinese.

(F) Canals and water tanks

• Canals: There was tremendous agrarian expansion during the rule of the imperial Chola Dynasty (c. 900–1270 AD) all over Tamil Nadu and particularly in the Kaveri Basin. Most of the canals of the Kaveri River belongs to this period e.g., Uyyakondan canal, Rajendran vaykkal, Sembian Mahadegvi vaykkal.
• Tanks: Rajendra Chola built a huge tank named Solagangam in his capital city Gangaikonda Solapuram and was described as the liquid pillar of victory. About 16 miles long, it was provided with sluices and canals for irrigating the lands in the neighbouring areas.

Cultural contribution

(A) Architecture and sculpture

• Cultural influence in South-east Asia: Examples of the Hindu cultural influence found today throughout Southeast Asia owe much to the legacy of the Cholas. For example, the great temple complex at Prambanan in Indonesia exhibit a number of similarities with South Indian architecture. According to the Malay chronicle, Chola rule is remembered in Malaysia today as many princes there have names ending with Cholan or Chulan, one such being Raja Chulan, the Raja of Perak.
• New form of architecture: The Cholas continued the temple-building traditions of the Pallava dynasty and contributed significantly to the Dravidian temple design. A new development was the addition of a huge gateway called gopuram to the enclosure of the temple. The Chola school of art also spread to Southeast Asia and influenced the architecture and art of Southeast Asia.

• Temple building: received great impetus from the conquests and the genius of Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola I. The magnificent Shiva temple of Thanjavur, was built by Rajaraja. The temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram at Gangaikondacholapuram, the creation of Rajendra Chola. The Brihadisvara Temple, the temple of Gangaikondacholisvaram and the Airavatesvara Temple at Darasuram were declared as World Heritage Sites by the UNESCO and are referred to as the Great living Chola temples.
• Sculptures: The Chola period is also remarkable for its sculptures and bronzes. Though conforming generally to the iconographic conventions established by long tradition, the sculptors worked with great freedom in the 11th and the 12th centuries to achieve a classic grace and grandeur. The best example of this can be seen in the form of Nataraja the Divine Dancer.

(B) Literature

• Tamil works: The Imperial Chola era was the golden age of Tamil culture, marked by the importance of literature. Chola records cite many works, including the Rajarajesvara Natakam, Viranukkaviyam and Kannivana Puranam.
• Jain and Buddhist: authors flourished as well, although in fewer numbers than in previous centuries.Jivaka-chintamani by Tirutakkatevar and Sulamani by Tolamoli are among notable works by non-Hindu authors. The grammarian Buddhamitra wrote a text on Tamil grammar called Virasoliyam.
• Commentaries: were written on the great text Tolkāppiyam which deals with grammar but also mentions ethics of warfare. Periapuranam was another remarkable literary piece of this period. Kamban flourished during the reign of Kulothunga III. His Ramavataram (also referred to as Kambaramayanam) is an epic of Tamil literature.
• Telugu literature: The period was in particular significant for the development of Telugu literature under the patronage of the rulers. It was the age in which the great Telugu poets Tikkana, Ketana, Marana and Somana enriched the literature with their contributions.
• Devotional literature: the arrangement of the Shaivite canon into eleven books was the work of Nambi Andar Nambi, who lived close to the end of the 10th century.

(C) Religion

• Largely Hindu: In general, Cholas were followers of Hinduism. They were not swayed by the rise of Buddhism and Jainism as were the kings of the Pallava and Pandya dynasties.
• Patronized Buddhism: The second Chola king, Aditya I (871–903 CE), built temples for Shiva and also for Vishnu. Rajaraja Chola I patronised Buddhists and provided for the construction of the Chudamani Vihara, a Buddhist monastery in Nagapattinam, at the request of Sri Chulamanivarman, the Srivijaya Sailendra king.

Decline of the Cholas

• Rise of Pandyan’s: The Chola dynasty went into decline at the beginning of the 13th century with the rise of the Pandyan dynasty, which ultimately caused their downfall. The Cholas, under Rajaraja Chola III and later, his successor Rajendra Chola III, were quite weak and therefore, experienced continuous trouble. During the rule of Kulothunga Chola II, the decline of the Chola power started following his defeat by Maravarman Sundara Pandiyan II in 1215–16.
• Loss of Sri Lanka: the Cholas also lost control of the island of Lanka and were driven out by the revival of Sinhala power. In continuation of the decline, also marked by the resurgence of the Pandyan dynasty as the most powerful rulers in South India.

Current significance

• Inspired tamil literature: The Chola dynasty has inspired many Tamil authors. The most important work of this genre is the popular Ponniyin Selvan (The son of Ponni), a historical novel in Tamil written by Kalki Krishnamurthy.
• Sandilyan, another popular Tamil novelist, wrote Kadal Pura in the 1960s. More recently, Balakumaran wrote the novel Udaiyar, which is based on the circumstances surrounding Rajaraja Chola’s construction of the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur. The Cholas were the subject of the 2010 Tamil-language film Aayirathil Oruvan, and the 2022 film Ponniyin Selvan: I. The 2022 movie was based on a novel of the same name.

Conclusion

• Our history books offer little to read about ancient Tamil kingdoms such as the Cholas.
• The monumental relics left behind; the majestic bronzes and 1,00,000 inscriptions and temples which are characteristic of the times, are for the eyes to feast on.

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Context

• Despite the global decline in crude oil prices over the last month and buying of cheap Russian crude oil, the retail prices of Petrol and Diesel in India have remained high. These increased prices have also caused high inflation in India, leading to an increase in key policy rates by RBI.
• In this context, in this edition of the burning issue, we will study Global fuel dynamics and how it impacts India’s energy security.

Global fuel dynamics

• Global production of oil- averaged 95.6 million barrels per day in 2021. The top producing country group was OPEC (31.7 million b/d) followed by OECD (31.0 million b/d). The top three producing countries were the United States (18.9 million b/d), Saudi Arabia (10.8 million b/d), and Russia (10.8 million b/d).
• Price of oil- The average Brent crude oil spot price declined to USD100/bbl in August from USD112/bbl in July. Brent crude oil prices have sunk by over USD20/bbl after peaking in June, pressured by tightening monetary policies and demand concerns in China
• Demand of crude oil- Global liquids demand saw a slight increase in August to 99.4 MMb/d, but remained below June’s 100 MMb/d.
• Factors impacting prices- Oilgenerates revenue for countries with enough oil reserves to produce more oil than they consume. Not surprisingly, events such as unrest in oil-producing regions, new oil field discoveries, and advances in extraction technology profoundly affect the oil industry.
• Recent decline in prices- Benchmark Brent crude oil prices dipped to USD100/bbl in August – the lowest in the past six months. Elevated inflation levels, rate hikes by major central banks, and concerns about a slowdown in the Chinese economy have impacted oil and fuel demand, leading to a price decline.
• Natural gas- accounts for 32% of primary energy consumption in the United States, the world’s largest producer. Russia is the second biggest producer, and also has at least 37 trillion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, the most in the world. Also, there was a steep rise in the international prices of natural gas triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war disrupting global supplies

Why crude oil prices were high till last month?

(A) Limited Supply:

• Major oil-producing countries had cut oil production amid a sharp fall in demand due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The Russian-Ukraine war has disrupted the supply chains. Also, sanctions on Russia, Iran and Venezuela by the US have reduced supplies of crude in international markets leading to price rises.
• In early October 2022, OPEC agreed to cut back on oil production to increase prices.

(B) Revival of Demand:

• Theproduction and rollout of vaccines for Covid-19 and the rising consumption post the COVID lockdowns last year have both led to a revival in international crude oil prices.

(C) Geopolitical reasons:

• Geopolitical tension has risen between Russia, which is the second largest oil producer in the world, and neighbouring Ukraine.
• In January, there were drone attacks on oil facilities in UAE, another major oil producer.
• An outage on a major oil pipeline linking Saudi Arabia and Turkey further added to the pressures.

Impacts of Global fuel dynamics on the Energy Security of India

• Energy security of India is threatened– Sanctions on Iran & Russia and the reduction of oil production by OPEC have caused prices of Crude oil to sour to record high levels, making it unbearable for the economy and common man, thus negatively impacting the energy security of India.
• Current Account Deficit: The increase in oil prices will increase the country’s import bill, and further disturb its current account deficit (excess of imports of goods and services over exports). According to estimates, a one-dollar increase in crude oil price increases the oil bill by around USD 1.6 billion per year.
• Inflation: The increase in crude prices could also further increase inflationary pressures that have been building up over the past few months. This will decrease the space for the monetary policy committee to ease policy rates further.
• Fiscal Health: If oil prices continue to increase, the government shall be forced to cut taxes on petroleum and diesel which may cause a loss of revenue and deteriorate its fiscal balance.The revenue lost will erode the government’s ability to spend or meet its fiscal commitments in the form of budgetary transfers to states, payment of dues and compensation for revenue shortfalls to state governments under the goods and services tax (GST) framework.

Reasons for recent fall in crude oil prices

• Strengthening of US Dollar: For the first time since early February, international crude benchmark Brent went below $90 a barrel last week. This level was last seen before Russia invaded Ukraine. The recent decline came amid expectations of further US dollar rise due to Fed rate hikes.
• Reducing global demand: Global energy demand is softening, especially in China, where crude oil imports fell 9.4% last month compared to a year ago, as the country’s zero-Covid policy has led to full or partial lockdowns in more than 70 cities since late August.
• Fear of global recession: US Fed has been increasing the policy rate aggressively causing the Dollar to appreciate vis-à-vis other currencies and outflow of capital thus generating fears of a global recession and thus reducing the demand for oil in the future.
• Increasing Russian oil supplies: India is buying Russian crude in defiance of Western, especially US pressure, to isolate the country economically and financially. India is buying Russia’s flagship Urals grade at discounts of as much as $35 a barrel on prices before the war

But why fuel prices are still high in India?

• Non-passing of savings: Indian refiners are not passing on the cost savings derived from declining crude oil prices since last month.
• No government support to companies: Petrol was deregulated in June 2010 and diesel in November 2014. Since then, the government does not pay oil firms any subsidy to compensate them for losses they might incur on selling fuel at rates below cost.
• High losses: The three biggest oil retailers in India posted a combined net loss of Rs 18,480 crore in the June quarter.
• Recover past losses: No revision of fuel prices by oil marketing companies is to recover the losses that state-owned fuel retailers incurred in keeping the fuel prices unchanged when international oil prices surged to multi-year highs.

Current Energy scenario in India

• Aim: Indian Government aims to increase energy in India and reduce energy poverty, with more focus on developing alternative sources of energy, particularly nuclear, solar and wind energy.  India attained 63% overall energy self-sufficiency in 2017.
• 3^rd biggest energy consumer: The primary energy consumption in India grew by 10.4% in CY2021 and is the third biggest with a 6% global share after China and USA.
• The energy basket: The total primary energy consumption from coal (452.2 Mtoe; 45.88%), crude oil (239.1 Mtoe; 29.55%), natural gas (49.9 Mtoe; 6.17%), nuclear energy (8.8 Mtoe; 1.09%), hydro-electricity (31.6 Mtoe; 3.91%) and renewable power (27.5 Mtoe; 3.40%) is 809.2 Mtoe (excluding traditional biomass use) in the calendar year 2018.
• Import dependency: In 2018, India’s net imports are nearly 205.3 million tons of crude oil and its products, 26.3 Mtoe of LNG and 141.7 Mtoe coal totalling 373.3 Mtoe of primary energy which is equal to 46.13% of total primary energy consumption. India is largely dependent on fossil fuel imports to meet its energy demands – by 2030.

Challenges to Energy security in India

• Low domestic resources: India, with 17% of the world’s population, has just 0.8% of the world’s known oil and natural gas resources.
• High domestic demand: India’s domestic production is not sufficient to meet its demand. As a result, India already imports 80% of its crude oil needs. Without new and substantial domestic discoveries, imports will continue to increase.
• Volatile energy supply regions: Problems of diversification of energy sources for India arise from the political volatility, and geopolitics of the regions from where India imports its energy products like the Persian Gulf region, and countries like Russia, Iran, etc.
• Low share of natural gas usage in India: Natural gas currently provides only 8% of India’s primary energy supply despite the fact that 50% of that gas comes from domestic sources, onshore and offshore. Today, oil accounts for 36% of the country’s primary energy use. This figure is set to rise both in absolute and in percentage terms.
• Low Private sector participation: Private sector’s Cold response to Government initiatives and policies such as HELP and mine auctions.
• Lack of holistic policy: India currently does not have a holistic National energy policy but is divided into a national electricity policy, renewable energy policy, etc. leading to a lack of coherency in all energy sectors and ministries.

Energy policy in India

• In this context, in 2017, NITI Aayog published a draft National energy policy (NEP) with four key objectives of Access at affordable prices, Improved security and Independence, Greater Sustainability and Economic Growth.
• The draft NEP proposes actions to meet the objectives in such a way that India’s economy is ‘energy ready’ in the year 2040.

Some Draft NEP proposals for the Energy Sector

• India has nearly 3.17 million square km of sedimentary area, out of which only 19% has been moderate to well-explored. To quickly appraise the entire sedimentary area, there is a need to offer geological data to prospective Exploration and Production (E&P) companies.
• Setting up of 90-day consumption requirement of strategic and commercial storage, both for crude and petroleum products through innovative private investment strategies is needed.
• To increase the penetration of natural gas, a National Gas Grid would have to be rolled out throughout the country.
• There is a need to migrate the existing hydrocarbon regime (both Nomination and PSCs) to the emerging framework of market-determined prices and marketing freedom. However, this cannot be done overnight and needs to be achieved in gradual phases.
• OMCs have done a commendable job in maintaining petroleum supplies throughout the country. The next step in this direction is to encourage competition through the entry of the private sector in a big way, to raise efficiency and consumer satisfaction levels.

India’s Quest for Energy Security: The Steps Taken

• Exploring domestic energy reserves: To promote oil and gas production at the domestic level, the Indian Government has been taking several steps which range from encouraging Indian companies to increase their domestic activities and widening its engagement with multinational companies, broadening opportunities for them to participate in oil and gas exploration in India.
• HELP policy: Government has launched an Open licensing and acreage policy under the Hydrocarbon exploration and licensing policy (HELP) in 2017. The HELP marked an important transition from regulation to liberalization of India’s E&P sector; it is a very significant upstream reform of the fiscal regime.
• Policy and operational changes: to stimulate the investments and development in the exploration of hydrocarbon sources of energy, some of the steps have focussed on regulatory changes, a transparent gas pricing policy and redevelopment of uneconomical assets.
• Exploring alternative sources: The domestic efforts have also seen a concerted focus on exploring various alternative sources of energy that are infinite, renewable and environment-friendly. The government has given a massive push in this regard in energy production through solar energy, wind power, hydroelectricity power, and biomass, and nuclear energy.
• Diversifying energy sourcing regions: Two-thirds of India’s oil imports come from Gulf region. India is following in the footsteps of other major oil-importing economies and making significant efforts to obtain supplies from sources outside the Gulf such as regions of Latin America, Africa, the Caspian Basin, Russia and the waters of the Indo-Pacific region.
• Launch of NDR: In support of the OALP, the government launched the National Data Repository in June 2017. It is a comprehensive archive of geo-scientific data for E&P activities. By allowing companies to access the data through an e-platform and consult relevant information, the government helped the interested parties in making bidding decisions.
• Small field policy launched: Discovered Small Field Policy was launched in 2016 to tap unmonetized small oil/gas discoveries in India, Discovered Small Field provides an easy and low-risk investment option for interested parties to encourage E&P activities.

Way forward

• Reinforce its oil emergency response policy- to adapt it to the expected strong growth in oil consumption, with increased dedicated emergency stocks and procedures, including demand restraint measures and a proper analysis of risks by using oil disruption scenarios.
• Strengthen the regulatory oversight- of the sector. Non-discriminatory access to oil transport and the level-playing field in the mid-and downstream oil sector.
• Promote the diversification- of oil sources and reduce India’s high oil import dependence by enhancing exploration and production activities and the development of alternative sources, such as biofuels.
• Foster the creation of a liquid market- for natural gas in India, gradually moving from gas allocation and multiple pricing regimes to the creation of a gas hub, so that domestic gas and LNG imports can be used most efficiently and competition can flourish.
• Strengthen and clarify the roles and responsibilities- of the regulatory supervision of natural gas market activities (upstream, midstream and downstream) to ensure a non-discriminatory access regime to pipeline capacity so that both LNG imports and new gas discoveries can find their way to markets and investment in gas transport and storage is encouraged.
• Ensure gas is treated on a level playing field- with other fuels for taxation and is included under the GST, as the country strives to increase the share of gas in the total energy supply.
• Enhance international engagement- by India on global oil security issues.

Conclusion

• Nation has achieved a lot in the energy sector in recent years which has propelled it to become one of the largest economies in the world.
• But to continue on this growth path, India’s energy policy needs to be pursued more inclusively in its domestic and international settings to address its fast-growing energy demand in a competitive geo-political environment.

Context

• October 1, 2022, marks an important date in the country’s history which is when telecom companies in India start rolling out 5G for users after months of testing.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the commercial rollout of 5G services in India at the India Mobile Congress 2022.
• Thus, in this edition of the Burning Issue, we will discuss the 5G technology, its rollout in India, benefits and associated concerns in detail.

What is 5G technology?

• 5G or the fifth generation is the latest upgrade in the long-term evolution (LTE) of mobile broadband networks.
• 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything including machines, objects, and devices. 
• It’s a unified platform that is much more capable than previous mobile services with more capacity, lower latency, faster data delivery rate and better utilization of spectrum.
• It mainly works in 3 bands, namely low, mid and high-frequency spectrum — all of which have their uses as well as limitations.

The low, mid, and high-frequency spectrum

• The low band spectrum has great promise in terms of coverage and speed of internet and data exchange but the maximum speed is limited to 100 Mbps (Megabits per second).
• So Telcos can use and install it for commercial cell phone users who may not have specific demands for very high-speed internet, the low band spectrum may not be optimal for the specialized needs of the industry.
• The mid-band spectrum offers higher speeds compared to the low band, but has limitations in terms of coverage area and penetration of signals.
• This band may be used by industries and specialized factory units for building captive networks that can be molded into the needs of that particular industry.
• The high-band spectrum offers the highest speed of all three bands, but has extremely limited coverage and signal penetration strength.
• Internet speeds in the high-band spectrum of 5G have been tested to be as high as 20 Gbps (gigabits per second), while, in most cases, the maximum internet data speed in 4G has been recorded at 1 Gbps.

Salient features of 5G technology

• Capability: 5G will provide much faster mobile broadband service as compared to the previous versions and will provide support to previous services like mission-critical communication and the massive Internet Of Things (IoT).
• Speed: With a peak delivery rate of up to 20 Gbps and an average of 100Mbps, it will be much faster as compared to its predecessors. The speed increment is partly achieved by using higher-frequency radio waves than in previous networks.
• Capacity: There will be up to 100x increase in traffic capacity and network efficiency.
• Spectrum usage: This will provide better usage for every bit of spectrum, from low bands below 1 GHz to high bands.
• Latency: It’s expected to have lower latency with better instantaneous, real-time access of the data. The 5G, like 4G LTE, also uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) but the new 5G NR (New Radio) air interface will enhance OFDM and provide better flexibility in data delivery.
• Millimeter wave spectrum: The 5G networks will operate in the millimeter wave spectrum (30-300 GHz) which has the advantage of sending large amounts of data at very high speeds because the frequency is so high, it experiences little interference from surrounding signals.

Global situation on 5G

• More than governments, global telecom companies have started building 5G networks and rolling them out to their customers on a trial basis.
• In countries like the US, some companies have taken the lead when it comes to rolling out commercial 5G for their users.
• China and the United States are significantly ahead of other nations in their 5G rollout, with a combined 652 cities in which 5G is available.
• A South Korean company, which had started researching 5G technology way back in 2011, has, on the other hand, taken the lead when it comes to building the hardware for 5G networks for several companies.

The recent launch of 5G in India

• 5G is officially available for commercial usage on October 1, 2022. Airtel and Jio are the only telecom players who have finalized a proper timeline for 5G services rollout in the country at the time of writing.
• Airtel will initially offer 5G services in 8 cities including four metros. Jio, on the other hand, will launch its 5G services across key metropolitan cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata to begin with.
• A government panel report points out that with 5G, the peak network data speeds are expected to be in the range of 2-20 Gigabit per second (Gbps). This can help in good governance and can lead to higher economic growth in India.
• The Ministry of Communications notes that the cumulative impact of 5G on India’s economy is expected to reach a whopping $450 Billion by 2035 opening up new opportunities and societal benefits while cutting down on conventional barriers.
• PM is pushing for Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance), with the success of Digital India being a priority. India is working on technologies that would enable it to launch its Indigenous 5G. This will help run its IoT platforms on indigenous technology for civilian as well as military applications.

Standalone and Non-Standalone 5G networks

• Jio will offer stand-alone 5G services with zero dependencies on 4G network, or “true 5G”, Jio is the only player to have purchased the premium 700 megahertz low-band spectrum which would be “essential for deep indoor coverage” in addition to the 3500 MHz mid-band and the 26 GHz millimeter-wave band meant for ultra-high capacity.
• Jio claims that it would combine these frequencies into a single powerful “data highway” using Carrier Aggregation for more seamless connectivity that would help connect the remotest parts of the country in the days to come. 
• Airtel, meanwhile, has downplayed the need for the 700 MHz band saying that it would lead to additional cost and more carbon emissions (because then it would have to install large “power-guzzling” radios on this band) while giving no additional coverage compared to the 900 MHz spectrum band that it has.
• Airtel also has a contrarian view -to Jio- on using stand-alone 5G saying that non-standalone (NSA) 5G- that Airtel would be using- offers a wider coverage and can work with more devices while allowing the use of existing 4G technology at no extra cost.

What is the 5Gi Technology network?

• 5Gi is a locally designed telecommunication network that has been designed by IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras and the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology.
• The technology developed by Indian institutions will be an alternative to the global 5G standards and has already got a thumbs up from the International Communication Unit.
• the main problem with global 5G technology is that the range of coverage goes down with an increase in frequency. This is where 5Gi steps in, as it provides a higher range at a lower frequency.
• 5Gi network technology is capable of working at a lower frequency than 5G by still providing a higher range. The technology works on a Low Mobility Large Cell method, which transmits a cell-based waveform which results in increased range.
• The TSDSi or the Telecommunications Standards Development Society of India says that “Enhanced cell coverage enabled by this standard, will be of great value in countries and regions that rely heavily on mobile technologies for connectivity but cannot afford dense deployment of base stations due to lack of deep fiber penetration, poor economics and challenges of geographical terrain.”
• If implemented in the right manner, the 5Gi technology can be fruitful in a large country like India as the large-scale implications will make the technology cost-effective. Additionally, owing to its high range, 5Gi will be able to provide better network connectivity in the rural area of the country.

Opportunities with 5G Technology

• High-Speed mobile network: 5G will revolutionize the mobile experience with the supercharged wireless network. Compared to conventional mobile transmission technologies, voice and high-speed data can be simultaneously transferred efficiently in 5G.
• Entertainment and multimedia: 5G can provide 120 frames per second, high resolution and higher dynamic range video streaming without interruption. The audio-visual experience will be rewritten after the implementation of the latest technologies powered by 5G wireless. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality services will be better experienced over 5G.
• Internet of Things:  IoT applications collect a huge amount of data from millions of devices and sensors and thus require an efficient network for data collection, processing, transmission, control and real-time analytics which 5G network is a better candidate.
• Smart cities: Smart city applications like traffic management, Instant weather update, local area broadcasting, energy management, smart power grid, smart lighting of the street, water resource management, crowd management, emergency response etc can use a reliable 5G wireless network for its functioning.
• Smart farming: 5G technology will be used for agriculture and smart farming in the future. Using smart RFID sensors and GPS technology, farmers can track the location of livestock and manage them easily. Smart sensors can be used for irrigation control, access control and energy management.
• Mission critical applications: Like telemedicine services, remote control of critical infrastructure and vehicles. It has the potential to transform industries with highly reliable, low latency links.
• Better Governance: Better speed and connectivity would reduce red tapism. It will enhance the speedy completion of projects and better implementation of policies. It will enable accountability in the system through a better monitoring system and will reduce corruption.
• Employment generation: 5G wireless technology will open greater opportunities for new device manufacturers and application developers. New VoIP devices and smart devices will be introduced in the market and thus more job opportunities as well. This will help in inclusive growth reaping the demographic dividend.
• Enhanced Security: 5G wireless technology is one the best solution for security surveillance due to its higher bandwidth and unlicensed spectrum. It will enhance better coordination among various agencies. Smart appliances which can be configured and accessed from remote locations, closed circuit cameras will provide high-quality real-time video for security purposes.
• Logistics and Shipping: Logistic and shipping industry can make use of smart 5G technology for goods tracking, fleet management, centralized database management, staff scheduling and real-time delivery tracking and reporting.
• Industrial Growth: Future industries will depend on smart wireless technologies like 5G and LTE advanced for efficient automation of equipment, maintenance, safety, tracking, smart packing, shipping, logistics and energy management.
• Agricultural applications: 5g technology can be used for agriculture and smart farming in the future. Using smart RFID sensors and GPS technology, farmers can track the location of livestock and manage them easily. Smart sensors can be used for irrigation control, access control and energy management.
• Healthcare and mission-critical applications: 5G technology will support medical practitioners to perform advanced medical procedures with a reliable wireless network connected to another side of the globe. Doctors can connect with patients from anywhere anytime and advise them when necessary. Scientists are working on smart medical devices which can perform remote surgery. Smart medical devices like wearables will continuously monitor a patient’s condition and activate alerts during an emergency.

Challenges with 5G in India

• Enabling critical infrastructures: 5G will require a fundamental change to the core architecture of the communication system. The major flaw of data transfer using 5G is that it can’t carry data over longer distances. Hence, even 5G technology needs to be augmented to enable infrastructure.
• Financial liability on consumers: For a transition from 4G to 5G technology, one has to upgrade to the latest cellular technology, thereby creating financial liability for consumers.
• Capital Inadequacy: Lack of flow of cash and adequate capital with suitable telecom companies (like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea) is delaying the 5G spectrum allocation.
• Frequency allocation: Indian operators have far less spectrum in comparison to international operators. The high investment cost makes telecom companies unsure about Return on Investment.
• Pricing: The 5G spectrum is overpriced by at least 30% to 40% compared to international standards and auctions in other markets such as South Korea and the U.S. In previous auctions, the government saw no takers for the 700 MHz spectrum, which is used to offer high-speed 4G services and was put on sale for the first time, mainly due to the high reserve price.
• Network investment: In India, the telecom sector is facing capital augmentation issues that need to be resolved. Non-availability of funds for investment: Many Indian operators are also weighed down by debt.
• Regulatory restrictions: Faster rounds of new technology introduction when prior technology investments have not been recouped add further complexity.
• Technical Challenges: Designing IT architecture that can be deployed globally, while still allowing for localized technology to cater to different regions is a challenge. Though Reliance Inc. has some plans to roll out 5G.

Geopolitics related to 5g technology

• Nearly a decade ago a report by the US House Intelligence Committee flagged issues posed by Chinese telecom companies Huawei Technologies and ZTE. The US Federal Communications Commission has designated these two companies as national security threats.
• Soon after, the US, Britain and Australia announced a ban on equipment from Huawei in their country’s high-speed wireless networks.
• India along with Canada and some other countries is reviewing security implications and has yet to decide on allowing Huawei to provide equipment for them.
• Most observers see this as a ‘technological cold war’ that could extend beyond just the US and China, and compel other countries, including India, to effectively choose between one camp and the other. This could be an another challenge for India in future.

Way forward

• We should focus on strengthening our cyber infrastructure and also cyber security as the telecom networks advance to prevent cyber security breaches.
• 5G start-ups that enable this design and manufacturing capabilities should be promoted. This will spur leaps in the coverage, capacity, affordability and density of wireless networks.
• Funds should be allocated and local technology and telecom firms should be incentivized to develop their internal capacities which would in turn help 5G technology succeed in the country.
• Push for “Make in India” manufacturing for 5G equipment and handsets.
• Scientists and Industries should work together to bring 5G technology quicker to the entire nation rather than getting entangled in policy processes & bureaucratic rifts.
• Telecom companies should augment their infrastructure and capabilities to provide a true 5G experience to customers as still many parts of the country lack even a 4G network.
• The financial condition of telecom companies should be improved to maintain competition in the Indian telecom market and thus attract new companies or FDI in the sector.

Conclusion

• By acting early on adoption, India can accelerate the 5G dividends and also become an innovator in applications and this technology.
• Supreme data download rates, three times greater spectrum efficiency, and super low latency will empower India to experience cases like seamless video calls, instant downloads and uploads and seamless gaming on the cloud thus the beginning of a new era for India’s technology landscape.

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Context

• The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a massive nationwide search operation in connection with anti-terror activities linked to the Popular Front of India-PFI for alleged terror links.
• The PFI has been alleged with a possible connection to terror activities in the country and organized crimes such as money laundering, terror funding, etc.
• In this context, in this edition of the burning issue, we will discuss the connection between terror and organized crimes, its consequences, and the way forward.

What are organized crimes?

• Organized crime is a continuing criminal enterprise that rationally works to profit from illicit activities that are often in great public demand.
• While organized crime is generally thought of as a form of illegal business, some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, rebel forces, and separatists, are politically motivated.
• Organized crime is considered to be a changing and flexible phenomenon. Many of the benefits of globalization such as easier and faster communication, movement of finances and international travel, have also created opportunities for transnational organized criminal groups to flourish, diversify and expand their activities.

Types of Organized Crime

Types of organized crime can exist in a wide range of types. Among the most popular types of organized crime are:

• Money laundering– It is a way by which illegal money earned from sources such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, etc. are diverted to create an impression that such money comes from a legitimate source. Many criminals are engaged in this profession where they help people with an illegal income to convert it into a legitimate income.
• Smuggling– Naturally, the goods which are illegal in the territory of India or heavily taxed are smuggled to continue their trade or maintain profits. With a change in fiscal policy, the definition of smuggled goods varies but it is mostly items such as contraband substances, valuable jewels, electronics, certain fabrics, etc. which are smuggled in India.
• Drug trafficking– Drug trafficking is another major crime that poses a threat to the younger population of India, considering its drastic effects on physical and mental health. It is usually considered that the most important reason for the high rate of drug trafficking is the geographical condition of India. It is located between the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos) in the northeast and Golden Crescent (Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran) in the northwest- both of which are the two largest sources of illicit drugs in Asia. Resultantly, this form of organized crime has become more prevalent and significant in the country.
• Human trafficking– Human trafficking is one of the most significant and heinous organized crimes. This involves women trafficking, child trafficking, trading in sex workers, etc. A book titled “Indian Mafia” by S.K. Ghosh has revealed that there are more than twenty-five lakh prostitutes in the country.
• Contract killings and kidnapping– Contract killings mean murdering someone for money on a contractual basis. This is usually prevalent among the highly influential and public personalities who are being murdered by their enemies/competitors through some other criminal for ransom. Similarly, kidnapping incidents are also prevalent wherein people pay a certain sum of money to get someone kidnapped or these criminals ask someone for a ransom. The recent murder of a Punjabi singer is a case of contract killing.
• Weapons Trafficking- Criminal networks and illicit arms dealers also play important roles in the black markets from which terrorists and drug traffickers procure some of their weapons. According to the head of UNODC, these “illicit arms fuel the violence that undermines security, development and justice” worldwide.
• Cybercrime. Organized crime networks are increasingly involved in cybercrime, which costs consumers billions of dollars annually, threatens sensitive corporate and government computer networks, and under­mines worldwide confidence in the international financial systems such as banking, stock markets, e-currency, and value and credit card services

Links with terrorism

• Terrorists can benefit from organized crime as a source of financing or logistical support through the illicit trafficking of arms, persons, drugs, artifacts and cultural property.
• Conceptually, terrorism does not fall in the category of organized crime, as the dominant motive behind terrorism is political and/or ideological and not the acquisition of money-power.
• Terrorist groups, whether indigenous or sponsored by outside states, need arms and money for their fight against the security forces. Organized crime conglomerates need clientele and couriers who can smuggle drugs, arms and human beings across the countries and regions.
• If we look at some of the regions in the country affected by terrorism, this linkage becomes apparent. In the Northeast, extortion is the fundamental basis for funding all forms of terrorism. In addition to this, kidnapping has been used extensively for spreading terror and raising funds. Human trafficking, drug trafficking and gun running are some of the other criminal activities that have been common in these areas.
• In J&K, the counterfeit currency has been a major source of funding for terrorism.  Money laundering plays a significant role. Hawala (money laundering) transactions take place swiftly and effectively in Kashmir. Besides, it is also believed that the ISI uses drug money to fund militant activities in Kashmir.
• In the Maoist terror movements, extortion is yet again a common phenomenon. They have also indulged in robberies of banks to fund their movement. There have also been reports of cuts being enforced on drug-yielding crops in the region.
• The Indian Mujahideen have also resorted to crime to raise funds. This includes robberies, kidnappings, etc.
• There are also several insurgent groups that over a period of time have morphed into crime syndicates.
• What began as an ideological movement is now merely a means of generating profit. This is especially the case with insurgent groups in Northeast India.

Implications

• Promote Violence- as evident from recent violence in Kerala by PFI activists after the NIA crackdown and also the Red Fort violence in Delhi by the ‘Sikh for Justice’ organization.
• Weakening of governments– as these organization tries to undermine the government by creating hatred towards national governments, and other communities and thus weakening the democratic institutions.
• Damages economy– Organized crimes cause significant damage to the world financial system through its subversion, exploi­tation, and distortion of legitimate markets and economic activity. These activities can lead to disruption of the global supply chain and impacts the ability of industry and transportation sectors to be resilient in the face of such disruption. 
• Supporting terrorists– Terrorists and insurgents increasingly are turning to organized crimes to gener­ate funding and acquire logistical support to carry out their violent acts.
• Increase in local crimes and create an atmosphere of fear– The expansion of organized crimes has a spillover effect and increases the number of local crimes in the area, political corruption formation of unholy nexuses, etc. which ultimately leads to poor social security and law and order situation.
• Social challenges– organized crimes are also used to fund organizations that promote radicalization of youth, and anger against government thus creating social tensions and rupturing the social fabric of the nation.

Why is PFI under crackdown?

(1) Links to terror outfits

• Many volunteers of PFI are allegedly involved in terror funding, organizing training camps, and radicalizing people to join proscribed organizations.
• It has been involved in carrying out social and Islamic religious work among Muslims on the lines of the work done by right-wing groups.
• The PFI does not maintain records of its members, and it has been difficult for law enforcement agencies to pin crimes on the organization after making arrests.

(2) Promoting Radicalization

• The outfit is hostile to the consolidation across the country and the rise of a single non-secular party as the nation’s pre-eminent political and ideological force.
• The post-2014 political landscape and the self-alienation of minorities have further pushed sections of the community towards groups like the PFI.
• The outfit is also said to have a large number of supporters in Gulf countries who contribute handsomely to its kitty, something which is under the scanner of investigating agencies for hawala and money laundering.

(3) Hostility against state mechanism

• Starting as an organization primarily rooted in Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the PFI has spread its wings far and wide, with a presence in at least 18 states.
• It has found particularly fertile ground in parts of Uttar Pradesh and Assam.
• Authorities have accused the outfit of instigating and funding protests against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens.

(4) Barbarism in the name of religion

• The PFI has had the most visible presence in Kerala, where it has been repeatedly accused of murder, rioting, intimidation, and having links with terrorist organizations.
• The Kerala government affidavit said PFI activists were involved in 27 cases of MURDER, mostly of CPM and RSS cadres, and that the motives were highly communal.

Laws to counter organized crimes in India

• FEMA (Foreign Exchange Management Act) 2000- aims to consolidate and amend the law relating to foreign exchange to facilitate external trade and payments and for promoting the orderly development and maintenance of the foreign exchange market in India. It also helps in keeping an eye on the flow of foreign contributions to domestic organizations and keeping a check on its illicit use.
• PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) 2002- The PMLA seeks to combat money laundering in India and has objectives such as preventing and controlling money laundering, Confiscating and seizing the property obtained from the laundered money and dealing with any other issue connected with money laundering in India.
• UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) 1967- The act is an Indian law aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities of associations and individuals in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sovereignty of India.
• National Security Act, 1980- There are various preventive laws existent in India which apply to organized crimes, explicitly and implicitly.
• Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988- It is another preventive law enacted to control the actions of people engaged in the illicit trafficking of drugs and other narcotic substances. 

International efforts to curb organized terrorism

• UNSC resolution 2482- In 2019, the Security Council adopted resolution 2482, which urged Member States to address the links between terrorism and organized crime, by adopting policy measures. Great strides have been made to better understand the linkages between terrorists and organized criminal groups owing to the adoption of Resolution 2482
• United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime– (UNTOC, often known as the Palermo Convention) is a multinational treaty against transnational organized crime that was established by the United Nations in 2000. The convention recognizes the threat that organized crime poses to security, sovereignty, human rights, and development. 

Challenges in tackling organized crimes

• Law-making and enforcement- There is no central legislation specifically governing organized crime in India. Different organized crimes are dealt with under different laws and with weak enforcement. 
• Slow trials– Though these organized criminals are tried under different laws, the whole process of trials is very slow and there is a very low conviction rate because in most of the cases, for such a long period, the witnesses deny to come out of fear and in some cases, the pieces of evidence are lost. For example, the conviction rate under UAPA law is just 1%.
• Obtaining proof- As mentioned earlier, most of the witnesses deny coming out of fear, so even if they are arrested, they are later acquitted because of insufficient evidence and longevity of time.
• Lack of resources- A major part of the country is still unorganized and the lack of proper resources and technology become an obstacle in way of curbing organized crime. The lower-ranked police officers are not given sufficient powers and a statement before them is not admissible evidence. Further, these officers do not have sufficient equipment to tap these criminals. 
• Lack of federal agency- Since there is no central or federal agency controlling these activities, every state has its way of functioning. These criminals do not stay for long in one place and keep migrating now and then. In such cases, due to lack of coordination, it becomes difficult and sometimes, impossible to catch them.
• Use of new technologies- organized crime criminals have started using the latest technologies such as darknet, blockchain and cryptocurrencies to operate their networks which have further reduced several state police’s abilities to tackle such crimes as they are already having a state crunch.

Way forward

• Strengthening global response- all the countries must come together and globally respond to organized crimes. INTERPOL could play an important role in it by playing the role of a global coordinating organization.
• Inter-state coordination- should be promoted among state police as the nature of these crimes is transboundary. It would help in taking faster and more effective actions against criminals.
• Introduce hi-tech software to track organized crime- since criminals are using the latest technologies to carry out their work, police also need hi-tech software to counter them. E.g CCTNS and Kerala police’s Cyberdome.
• Having a dedicated law- Specific laws are required and the executive needs to be empowered to take steps accordingly. Moreover, the enforcement should also be stringent failing which, the whole object of enacting such a law would defeat.

Conclusion

• From the above, it is clear that organized crimes have a multitude of effects and if not contained well might threaten the security and integrity of India.
• Thus, it is imperative to deal with all organized crimes holistically by promoting coordination among states and nations and capacity building of state law enforcement institutions, finally leading to the achievement of national security in its largest sense.

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Context

• India is witnessing the spread of the Lumpy Skin Disease infection which has killed nearly 75,000 cattle in India and spread to more than 10 States and UTs.
• The scale of deaths and spatial spread of the viral infection is important for the nation as India has the largest number of cattle in the world and is also the largest milk producer.
• At the same time, India also hosted the World Dairy Summit 2022 after a gap of 48 years. In both these contexts, this edition of the burning issue will deal with the Indian Dairy Sector, its contribution to the nation, its challenges and the way forward.

Indian Dairy Sector: An Overview

• India ranks 1^st in milk production and contributes 23 % of global milk production. Milk production in the country has grown at a compound annual growth rate of about 6.2 % to reach 210 million tonnes in 2020-21 from 146.31 million tonnes in 2014-15.
• The top 5 milk-producing states are: Uttar Pradesh (14.9%, 31.4 MMT), Rajasthan (14.6%, 30.7 MMT), Madhya Pradesh (8.6%, 18.0 MMT), Gujarat (7.6%, 15.9 MMT) and Andhra Pradesh (7.0%, 14.7 MMT).
• Dairy is the single largest agricultural commodity contributing 5% of the national economy, witnessing 6.4% (CAGR) in the past 5 years.
• Approximately 80 million people are employed in the dairy industry directly or indirectly.

Significance of the Indian dairy sector

• Acts as a buffer: Milk animals act as a buffer for farmers during droughts and flood conditions. Also, milk animals are more evenly distributed among farmers than on agricultural land.
• Not a seasonal occupation: Dairying is not a seasonal occupation like farming as milk and milk products can be produced throughout the year thus leading to the year generation of income.
• Highly nutritious: Milk is considered a ‘Whole meal’. Dairy products are highly nutritious with high amounts of proteins and calcium, thus helping tackle malnutrition in India. For this reason, several state governments are trying to add Milk to their school’s Mid-day meal scheme.
• Huge Employment Generation: the dairy sector employs around 80 million people from milk-producing farmers in rural areas to milk distributors in urban areas.
• Promotes women empowerment: most of the milking work in rural areas is done by women. They also work as collectors and suppliers of milk to village milk collection centres. This, helps rural women earn some income and automatically promotes women empowerment.
• Boosting other sectors: the dairy sector promotes the growth of multiple other sectors like fodder industries, organic manure manufacturing, and food processing industries like Curd, cheese, paneer manufacturing.

Challenges being faced by the sector

• Low productivity of Indian dairy animals: Improving the productivity of farm animals is one of the major challenges. The average annual milk yield of Indian cattle is 1172 kg which is only about 50% of the global average.
• Disease outbreaks: The Frequent outbreaks of diseases like Food and Mouth Diseases, Black Quarter infection, Influenza etc. continue to affect Livestock health and lowers productivity.
• Limited success in cross-breeding: Crossbreeding of indigenous species with exotic stocks to enhance the genetic potential of different species has been successful only to a limited extent.
• Supply Chain issues: which include collection, pasteurisation and transportation of milk in a safe environment. Since 60% of the dairy industry lies in informal dairy, it becomes difficult to ensure regular flow and quality of milk. That is why the adulteration of milk remains a perennial issue in India.
• Unorganised Nature: The unorganised nature of the dairy farming industry has resulted in minimal penetration of technological progress within the sector. This has further led to consistently high wastage as well as a lack of standardisation in terms of quality and quantity.
• Data Deficiency: Informality of the sector also leads to a lack of data regarding total milk production, wastage of milk, and financial flows in the sector which further inhibits the formalisation of the sector.
• Low returns: there have been perennial complaints from milk farmers about low milk purchase prices paid to them by milk companies as compared to the final milk price in the market. This leads to the cornering of profits by companies while actual producers get poor returns.

Latest Challenge to Indian Dairy Sector- Lumpy Skin Disease

• Lumpy skin disease is caused by the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), which belongs to the genus capripoxvirus, a part of the poxviridae family (smallpox and monkeypox viruses are also a part of the same family).
• It is not a zoonotic virus, meaning the disease cannot spread to humans. It is a contagious vector-borne disease spread by vectors like mosquitoes, some biting flies, and ticks and usually affects host animals like cows and water buffaloes.
• The disease was first observed in Zambia in 1929, subsequently spreading to most African countries extensively, followed by West Asia, South-eastern Europe, and Central Asia, and more recently spreading to South Asia and China in 2019.
• There is a vaccine against viral infection. Indian scientists have developed an indigenous vaccine. The ICAR-National Research Centre on Equines (ICAR-NRCE) in collaboration with ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) has developed a vaccine against Lumpy Skin Disease called ‘Lumpi-ProVacInd’

Economic implications of Lumpy on the Dairy Sector

• Milk reduction: Lumpy leads to reduced milk production as the animal becomes weak and also loses appetite due to mouth ulceration. Milk collection across Rajasthan is estimated to have been reduced by 3 to 4 lakh litres per day after the onset of lumpy skin disease. 
• Animal wasting: The income losses can also be due to poor growth, reduced draught power capacity and reproductive problems associated with abortions, infertility and lack of semen for artificial insemination.
• Impact of trade ban: Movement and trade bans after infection also put an economic strain on the whole value chain.

Steps needed to improve the Indian dairy sector

(A) Steps regarding animals:

• Improving artificial insemination: to improve cow breeds and thus better milk yield per animal.
• Improving animal fodder: designing animal fodder on scientific lines rather than old dry grass-based fodder.
• Improving Vaccination coverage: of milch animals against several diseases to prevent the frequent disease outbreak in an animal thus maintaining a sustained and healthy supply of milk.

(B) Steps related to dairy farmers:

• Ensuring more prices to farmers: as they are the actual producers of the milk. For this, rather than giving more weightage to fat percentage in milk as a determinant of milk price, more quantity and quality to taken as parameters.
• Price support: to farmers to improve animal fodders, ensure vaccination and afford veterinary services on time. This ensures animal health and productivity and thus farmers’ prosperity.
• More cooperatives: Forming new cooperatives of farmers to more formalization of the dairy sector and thus better milk quality and quantity in the market. It will also generate more data that can be used in further planning in the dairy sector and hence better resource mobilization.

(C) Dairy sector logistics

• Improve cold storage and transportation: more refrigerated trucks must be employed for a faster and fresh delivery of dairy products.
• More dairy sector-related research: should be promoted from production to logistics. Production data analysis and demand analysis should be done to cater better to the needs of the producers and consumers.
• Promote more start-ups: and new private dairies in the dairy industry like Country Delight, fresh to home, big basket etc. This will help increase competition in the market and thus break the monopolies of a few big names and bring down prices.

Case Study: AMUL: ‘Unity in Strength’ based Cooperative Model

• Anand Milk Union Limited or AMUL has created its name and reputation over the years delivering quality milk products to the entire country and now the world. 
• Amul’s story started in 1946 with inspiration from Sardar Patel, when farmers established a cooperative named ‘Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers Union Limited’ (KDCMPUL) in a village called Anand.
• Amul has a three-tiered structure. First, every milk producer in the village is a member of the Village Dairy Cooperative Society. These members elect their representatives. These representatives together manage District Milk Unions, which form the second tier.
• These district milk unions take care of milk and milk products and their processing. They sell these products to the State Milk Federation which forms the third tier. State Milk Federation then acts as the distributor that sells or facilitates the selling of the products in the market. The revenue gets shared downwards in a similar fashion.
• The dairy is in control of the villagers themselves. Farmer organizations come together under one umbrella of Amul and directly sell products to consumers through the state milk federation.
• This elimination of intermediaries could ensure a good quality product at a competitive price. This provided a stable income for marginal farmers in lean seasons as well because there are no intermediaries to take the chunk.
• This model has become a case study in business schools. It showed the success of cooperatives. It showed how the benefits trickle down from the market to the producer at the bottom of the pyramid. Recently, Union Cooperative minister Amit Shah commented that the Amul model can go beyond the milk and dairy sector and produce great results in other sectors also.

How are Indian startups changing the dairy sector?

• Several startups are working in the dairy sector to provide solutions to several problems in this sector. Prompt Equipment is one such organisation that provides livestock management solutions. The firm teamed up with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai to design the ‘BovSmart’ wearable belt. The belt uses AI and IoT for tracking livestock breeding and delivering timely information to farmers.
• Another business, Stellapps Technologies (Stellapps), offers a similar solution, which uses a wearable gadget for cattle and a mobile application to deliver recommendations to improve herd performance. According to Stellapps, using this approach, milk yield can be raised by 20% and calf health costs can be decreased by up to 50 per cent. The Stellapps technology is currently being used to track around 4.5 lakh livestock.
• Stellapps, Mr. MilkMan, as well as Trinetra Wireless are three Indian start-ups among several others that are digitalising the dairy supply chain.
• With start-ups entering the industry and addressing gaps in livestock management and supply chain, the situation is beginning to change, ushering in a new era of growth for the industry, rooted in digitalisation.

Government schemes related to the Dairy sector

• Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund: The scheme aims to provide a subsidized loan of @6.5% to capital-stressed milk cooperatives for primarily replacing their decades-old chilling and processing plants and addition of value-added product plants.
• Animal Husbandry infrastructure development fund: This scheme aims to help to increase meat processing capacity and product diversification thereby providing greater access for unorganized Dairy producers to organise the Dairy market.
• National Programme for Dairy Development: The objective of the scheme is to create and strengthen dairy infrastructure for procurement, processing and marketing of milk and milk products by the State Implementing Agencies (SIAs) i.e. State Cooperative Dairy Federations/ District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union.
• Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana: PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana is a comprehensive package which will result in the creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet.
• Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to Livestock Farmers: The Kisan Credit Card scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedures to the animal husbandry and fisheries farmers for their working capital requirements. 

Conclusion

The dairy sector in India has performed well in the past but still faces several challenges.

The need of the hour is to address these challenges holistically to usher in ‘White Revolution 2.0’ in India and achieve the target of the government of a liquid milk production capacity of 255 MMT by 2022.

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Context

• The UNESCO United Nations World Water Development Report of 2022 has encapsulated global concern over the sharp rise in freshwater withdrawal from streams, lakes, aquifers and human-made reservoirs, impending water stress and also water scarcity being experienced in different parts of the world.
• A NITI Aayog report, ‘Composite Water Management Index (2018) has sounded a note of caution about the worst water crisis in the country, with more than 600 million people facing acute water shortages.
• In this context, this edition of the Burning issue will elaborate on the issue of the growing Water crisis in India (in form of water stress and scarcity), its causes, implications and possible solutions.

What Do “Water Scarcity” and “Water Stress” actually Mean?

• Water Scarcity: “Water scarcity” refers to the volumetric abundance, or lack thereof, of freshwater resources. “Scarcity” is human-driven; it is a function of the volume of human water consumption relative to the volume of water resources in a given area.
• Water Stress: “Water stress” refers to the ability, or lack thereof, to meet human and ecological demand for fresh water. Compared to scarcity, “water stress” is a more inclusive and broader concept. It considers several physical aspects related to water resources, including water availability, water quality, and the accessibility of water, which is often a function of the sufficiency of infrastructure and the affordability of water, among other things.

Current situation of the water crisis in India

• The Global Drought Risk and Water Stress map (2019): it shows that major parts of India, particularly west, central and parts of peninsular India are highly water-stressed and experience water scarcity.
• India has only 4% of the planet’s fresh-water for 16% of its population.
  The annual per capita availability of water continues to decline sharply from about 5,177 cubic meters in 1951 to about 1,720 cubic meters in 2019.
• Composite Water Management Index (2018): Released by NITI Aayog indicates that more than 600 million people are facing acute water stress.
• India is the world’s largest extractor of groundwater: Accounting for 25 percent of the total. 70 percent of our water sources are contaminated and our major rivers are dying because of pollution.
• Global Drought Risk and Water Stress map (2019) shows that major parts of India, particularly west, central and parts of peninsular India are highly water-stressed and experience water scarcity.
• According to a recent official estimate, 22 of the country’s 32 major cities are plagued with acute water shortages. NABARD study shows that around 60 percent of the country’s gross cropped area is facing a water crisis. The most serious water crisis is being faced by Maharashtra, Punjab, Haryana, MP, UP and Andhra Pradesh.
• The new Water Report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) sounded a note of caution about this silent crisis of a global dimension, with millions of people being deprived of water to live and sustain their livelihood.

Causes of the water crisis in India

• 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 percent of the country. However, poor data management and an abject failure to properly price water have prevented the country from making any significant progress.
• 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 resources. Also, the subsidized pricing of water in various states has resulted in non-revenue water and a sharp decline in groundwater levels in all states.
• Failure of mass adoption of drip irrigation: Drip irrigation, a method that means farmers use drastically less fertilizer 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: Climate change is a real global challenge today that is altering the water cycle in the worst way possible. 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: This is one of the greatest reasons for the water crisis in Indian cities as some reports state that around 20–25% of water is wasted due to the leakage in the pipelines. India wastes considerably a lot of water as leakage in pumping and distribution.
• Improper wastewater treatment: In India, there is no policy support for recycling and reuse of industrial wastewater contrary to other countries that have proper guidelines on wastewater management. Israel uses about 86% of its treated wastewater in agriculture. 70% of urban sewage in India is untreated and is disposed of directly to the water bodies which creates quite a lot of health and environmental concerns.

Implications of Water Crisis

• Shifting to inter-city water supplies– Almost all cities in India are experiencing water stress major due to the drying up of groundwater water or local water resources. Thus, now City water supply is now a subject of inter-basin and inter-State transfers of water. For example, Ahmedabad’s 80% water supply used to be met from groundwater sources till the mid-1980s. But now the city depends on the Narmada canal for the bulk of its water supply. 
• Inter-state water disputes are growing- Rising inter-state river water disputes between states to secure their water supplies and economic growth. This is further causing federal disputes and inter-state political rivalries.
• Faster depletion of water resources- The increased pace of water resource usage to meet the growing water demand has led to faster depletion of water, crossing the sustainable replenishment rate of the resources and ultimately leading to their drying up.
• Creation of urban heat islands- water has a cooling effect on the environment, but due to the drying up of surface water resources, this cooling effect of water has reduced leading to the rise in the environmental temperatures and thus creating urban heat islands.
• “Commodification of water”- has started as evident from the growing number of water bottling plants popping up in cities, creating artificial scarcity of water and selling water at higher rates thus impacting people’s pockets negatively as well as creating a Rich-Poor divide/ inequality in water affordability and accessibility.

Some suggestions to solve the water crisis in India

• Sustainable water management: Improving water infrastructure must be a priority, as water conservation and efficiency are key components of sustainable water management.
• Restoring and reviving traditional water harvesting structures such as wetlands, lakes, Johads (earthen check dams), etc.
• Reclaimed water: Rainwater harvesting and recycled wastewater also allow to reduce scarcity and ease pressures on groundwater and other natural water bodies. 
• Pollution control & better sewage treatment: Without proper sanitation, the water becomes full of diseases and unsafe to drink. That is why addressing pollution and measuring and monitoring water quality is essential. 
• Awareness & Education: Education is critical to solving the water crisis. In fact, to cope with future water scarcity, it is necessary to radically reform all forms of consumption
• Adopting an integrated approach: A system perspective and catchment scale-based approach are necessary to link the reallocation of water with wider discussions on development, infrastructure investment, fostering a rural-urban partnership, and adopting an integrated approach in water management.

Some water management Models

• Learning from better performing states: In what could serve as an 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 and Telangana – are states that have suffered from severe droughts in recent years.
• Reviving dead rivers: Rajendra Singh, popularly known as ‘Waterman of India’ has applied the method of constructing check dams and reservoirs to revive several hundreds of dead rivers in India. His network- ‘Rashtriya Jal Biradari’ is working for the restoration of all mighty and small rivers of the country.
• Applying the ‘One Water’ Approach– ‘One Water’ is the recognition that all water has value, regardless of its source. It includes managing that source in an integrated, inclusive and sustainable manner by including the community, business leaders, industries, farmers, conservationists, policymakers, academics and others for ecological and economic benefits.
• Mihir Shah, Head of the New Water Policy formulation committee, has suggested shifting the focus of water management in India from ‘supply management’ to ‘demand management’ i.e managing the growing demand for water in India rather than focusing on supplying more and more water.

Steps taken by the government for Water Management

• The government of India launched Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in 2019, a time-bound campaign with a mission mode approach intended to improve water availability including groundwater conditions in the water-stressed blocks of 256 districts in India.
• National Water Policy (2012) has been formulated by the Department of Water Resources, RD & GR, inter-alia advocates rainwater harvesting and conservation of water and highlights the need for augmenting the availability of water through direct use of rainfall.
• Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Groundwater- 2020 has been prepared by Central Ground Water Authority in consultation with States/UTs which is a macro level plan indicating various structures for the different terrain conditions of the country.
• Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY), a Rs.6000 crore scheme with World Bank funding, for sustainable management of groundwater with community participation is being taken up in the identified over-exploited and water-stressed areas.
• National Water Mission had started a campaign “Sahi Fasal” to nudge farmers to favor crops that consume less water and to use water more efficiently in agriculture, as a part of demand side management.
• Fifteenth Finance Commission (FFC) in its report for 2021-26, has earmarked 60 per cent for national priorities like drinking water supply and rainwater harvesting and sanitation, out of the total grants earmarked for Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI). For fifty Million-Plus cities, two-thirds of the allocation of funds under the Challenge Fund of Rs. 38,196 crores is meant for meeting service level benchmarks on drinking water supply, rainwater harvesting, water recycling, solid waste management and sanitation.

Way forward

• Improving traditional irrigation methods- to shift to Drip irrigation which is already in practice in India needs to be practiced efficiently across the country which will reduce the water usage in agriculture.
• Wastewater recycling 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 wastewater and reuse it for agriculture and industrial activities.
• Extracting water from air and fog is a futuristic technology: the 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.
• To prevent leakage, a Proper team with skilled workers should be assigned the job of maintaining and repair of the pipelines. Smart metering and leakage detection systems should be designed to check the water wastage in the transmission.

Conclusion

Looking at the current situation, there is a need for a paradigm shift. We urgently require a transition from this ‘supply-and-supply-more water’ provision to measures that lead towards improving water use efficiency, reducing leakages, recharging/restoring local waterbodies as well as applying for higher tariffs and ownership by various stakeholders.

Context

• According to the latest National Health Accounts Report, India’s total health expenditure went down from 3.9 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2013-14 to 3.2 per cent in 2018-19.
• The fact is alarming as it points toward the reducing health expenditure of the government at a time when the Health sector in the country is already under pressure from multiple issues such as poor infrastructure and the burden of the pandemic.
• In this context, in this edition of the burning issue, we will talk about India’s healthcare sector, issues that ail it and possible solutions to these issues.

About the National Health Accounts Report

• India’s National Health Accounts (NHA) estimates report for FY 2018-19 is the sixth in the series of NHA reports prepared by the National Health Systems Resource Centre (NHSRC).
• The report is based on the globally accepted framework of System of Health Accounts, 2011, which enables cross-comparability of estimates across time along with international comparisons.
• The NHA report presents two estimates for the expenditure incurred within the health sector during a financial year: Current Health Expenditure (CHE) and total Health Expenditure (THE).
• CHE includes the recurring expenses corresponding to the final consumption of health goods and services within a financial year. THE, on the other hand, reflects both current and capital expenditure incurred in the health sector within a financial year.

About the Healthcare Sector in India

• The Healthcare industry in India comprises hospitals, medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance, and medical equipment.

• The hospital industry in India accounts for 80% of the total healthcare market. The hospital industry is expected to reach $132 bn by 2023 from $61.8 bn in 2017; growing at a CAGR of 16-17%.
• In 2020, India’s Medical Tourism market was estimated to be worth $5-6 Bn and is expected to grow to $13 Bn by 2026.
• The primary care industry is currently valued at $13 bn. The share of the organized sector is practically negligible in this case.
• ‘Public Health’ subject comes under the state list under the 7^th schedule of the constitution.

Some Data about Healthcare Expenditure in India

• According to the latest National Health Accounts Report, the current health expenditure(CHE) for the year was Rs 5,40,246 crore or 90.58 percent, while the rest was capital expenditures. Of the government health expenditure, the Union government’s share was 34.3 percent.
• Out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare by households has declined by 16 percentage points, from 64.2 per cent to 48.2 per cent in the same period. It was even higher in 2004-2005, at 69.4 per cent. While this is a welcome improvement, the figure remains significantly higher than the global average.
• The economic burden of healthcare in India is largely borne by households that contribute Rs 3,24,717 crore to the current healthcare expenditure.
• For 2018-19, the health expenditure for India was estimated to be Rs 4, 470 per capita.
• Among the different types of healthcare providers, the major share of CHE is incurred at private hospitals (28.7 percent), followed by pharmacies (22.6 percent), and government hospitals (17.3 percent).

Challenges in the Healthcare sector in India

(A) Outdated Medical education in India

• Limited government seats: The number of seats available for medical education in India is far less than the number of aspirants who leave school with the dream of becoming doctors.
• Lack of skills: Though the institutes are managing to hire professors and lecturers, there is a lack of technical skills. Finding faculties in clinical and non-clinical disciplines is difficult and there are very few faculty development programs for upskilling the existing lot.
• Lack of digital infrastructure: The gap in digital learning infrastructure is currently the biggest challenge the sector is facing. There is an urgent need to adopt technology and have resources available to facilitate e-learning.
• Lack of research and innovation: there haven’t been much ground-breaking research in the medical field. The education system needs to focus more on increasing the quality of research. Additionally, since the industry-academia partnership is not available, hence innovation also takes a back seat.
• No. of doctors-Deficiency: The doctor-patient ratio of 1:1655 in India as against WHO norm of 1:1000 clearly shows the deficit of MBBS.
• Inadequate capacity of the health system: to cater to the healthcare demands of a large population as evident from multiple months waiting for an operation even at large healthcare centers like AIIMS.

(B) Suffering from several Paradoxes

• Healthcare is a fundamental right, but it is not fundamentally right in India: The expenditure on healthcare is one of the lowest in the world. Though our economy has grown robustly post-liberalization, investment in healthcare has consistently hovered around 1% of the GDP. In the 2020-21 Budget, it was 1.02% of overall expenditure.
• The sector attracts investments, but delivery remains contentious: India’s healthcare sector has attracted a steady stream of investments. Lack of penetration, inflated billing, opaqueness in diagnosis, and poor quality of service has ensured that most Indians get treated below the standards prescribed by the WHO.
• Among the cheapest in the world, yet unaffordable for most locally: Healthcare in India is cheap. Yet India has one of the world’s highest rates of out-of-pocket spending in healthcare. Millions in India cannot afford these procedures in their own country.
• Less health infrastructure, but medical tourism booms: There is a dearth of medical schools and clinicians. Most hospitals in India are overburdened, understaffed, and ill-equipped. However, all this has not prevented the private healthcare sector to establish sophisticated medical tourism facilities on the plank of ‘world-class service at low cost’.

(C) Rising Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases

• According to the study report ‘India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative’ in 2017 by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it is estimated that the proportion of deaths due to Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in India has increased from 37.9% in 1990 to 61.8% in 2016.

(D) Inadequate Mother and Child Healthcare

• Maternal mortality causes 56,000 deaths every year in India, accounting for 20 percent of maternal deaths around the world.
• The inadequate healthcare system and lack of healthcare facilities in most regions have elevated the number of maternal mortality cases in India. 

(E) Receding government from the health sector

• Currently, government hospitals are having only a 30% share of the total number of hospital beds available in India.
• Also, 70% of new beds added in hospitals are coming from private hospitals rather than government hospitals. This disproportionately impacts poor people more.
• India’s rich and middle classes have opted out of public health completely, leaving the poor with unconscionably meager services.

How pandemic has further exposed the Healthcare sector in India?

 (1) Poor Infrastructure

• In the 2019 Global Health Security Index, which measures pandemic preparedness for countries based on their ability to handle the crisis, India ranked 57, lower than the US at 1, the UK at 2, Brazil at 22, and Italy at 31.
• As per the OECD data available for 2017, India reportedly has only 0.53 beds available per 1,000 people as against 0.87 in Bangladesh, 2.11 in Chile, 1.38 in Mexico, 4.34 in China, and 8.05 in Russia.

(2) Fewer doctors per thousand

• The WHO mandates that the doctor-to-population ratio should be 1:1,000, while India had a 1:1,404 ratio as of February 2020.
• In rural areas, this doctor-patient ratio is as low as 1:10,926 doctors as per National Health Profile 2019.

(3) Denial of healthcare by Private hospitals

• Despite private hospitals accounting for 62 percent of the total hospital beds as well as ICU beds and almost 56 percent of the ventilators, they are handling only around 10 percent of the workload.
• Private hospitals are reportedly denying treatment to the poor. Cases of overcharging patients are also being reported in private hospitals.

 (4) Negligence for mental healthcare

• Mental health problems were already a major contributor to the burden of illness in India which usually gets unnoticed.
• The widespread anxiety due to the lockdown has frustrated the laborers, farmers, and various vulnerable sections to a great extent due to the fear of impoverishment and loss of livelihoods.

Ayushman Bharat- A Game Changer Scheme

• Ayushman Bharat Scheme was launched in 2018, as a step toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and would provide quality health services to eligible patients and protect them from financial hardship.
• It aims to provide 110 million “poor, deprived rural families” with an annual family health insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh in Secondary and tertiary healthcare.

Outcomes of the scheme

Positive outcomes

• More than 20.8 lakh people from marginalized sections received health treatment worth Rs. 5000 crores in the initial 200 days of the scheme.
• The portability of the scheme helped several migrant workers access health benefits in the state of migration during COVID times irrespective of their home states.

Negative outcomes

• One of the primary objectives of this scheme is to decrease the out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure on health in India. Multiple research studies suggest that insurance schemes for the poor in India have failed to provide the much-needed relief, with OOP figures higher for those using insurance schemes, compared to those who do not. Predominant reasons are shoddy implementation, lack of infrastructure and corruption.
• As per the latest data available, over 12.5 crore Ayushman cards have been issued and about 1.23 crore people have availed the benefit of this scheme (merely 2 percent of the 50 crore target beneficiaries).
• In addition, Ayushman beneficiaries are denied benefits they were previously entitled to under other schemes—a pregnant woman below-poverty line beneficiary of AB-PMJAY scheme, going for institutional delivery no longer receives the assistance of Rs 1,500 under Janani Surakhsa Yojana.

Some achievements in the Healthcare sector

• Out-of-pocket expenditure on healthcare by households has declined by 16 percentage points, from 64.2 per cent to 48.2 per cent in the same period. It was even higher in 2004-2005, at 69.4 per cent. The decreasing share of OOPE signals the declining incidence of financial hardships faced by households while accessing healthcare in India.
• The increasing share of social security expenditure on health from 6 per cent in 2013-14 to 9.6 per cent of THE in 2018-19, indicates the increasing reach of social security measures in the country. This kind of payment mechanism enables risk protection thus preventing households from incurring catastrophic health expenditure.
• More than half of the government’s current expenditure (55 per cent) has been on strengthening primary healthcare centers. This not only ensures quality services at the grassroots level but also reduces the chances of ailments requiring secondary or tertiary health care services.
• Increasing health insurances– Health insurance contributes 20% to the non-life insurance business, making it the 2^nd largest portfolio. The gross direct premium income underwritten by health insurance grew 17.16% year on year to reach $6.87 bn in FY20

Models to improve the healthcare system in India

(A) Concept of Family Health Teams: 

• Instead of passive design of NHM, we need Family Health Teams (FHT) like in Brazil, accountable for the health and wellbeing of a dedicated population, say 2,000 families.

 (B) Move beyond doctor-led systems:

• India needs to move beyond the doctor-led system. Instead of wasting gynecologists in CHCs midwives (nurses with a BSc degree and two years of training in midwifery) can provide equally good services except surgical, and can be positioned in all CHCs and PHCs.

(C) National Health Service:

• It is based on the UK’s health model. It is similar to creating an All India Service on the lines IAS and IPS for the healthcare services in India. It would help bring uniformity in structure and services related to healthcare in India.

Other Possible solutions

 (1) Promote Universal health coverage

• As part of the SDGs, all countries have pledged to deliver universal health coverage (UHC) by 2030.
• This includes India. But, sadly, nearly 50 percent of the world’s population lacks essential health services.

 (2) Increasing healthcare professionals in numbers

• Considering the rise in the population, new diseases and infections, India is in dire need of more medical staff and amenities.
• If India wants to achieve a 1:1,000 ratio, it will need an additional 2.07 million doctors by 2030. For this, the government needs to increase its spending on the health sector.

 (3) Revamping medical education

• There is a needs to rapidly build medical institutions and increase the number of doctors.
• It needs to aid attempts at constructing new medical institutes, hospitals, Primary health centers and New AIIMS.

 (4) Helping the downtrodden

• Rather than dumping them on government hospitals only, the private hospitals should be held accountable to take on their treatment.
• They can make up for the loss by cross-subsidizing treatments of patients with premium insurance policies.

(5) Enhancing future pandemic preparedness

• This can be done by strengthening the disease surveillance system, Primary health centers, and the Pharmaceutical industry for rapid production of essential medicines and testing kits.

 (6) Optimum use of technology

• The COVID-19 crisis has elevated the importance of digital tools and e-health.
• There is a growing use of mobile apps, online consultations, e-pharmacies, and other tools such as NetMeds, Dhani App and telemedicine.

 (7) Looping-in private players

• For too long, India has allowed the private health sector to grow, with little regulation.
• The lack of alignment between the public and private sectors has been exposed to COVID-19 testing and treatment in India.
• The time is ripe to loop in private players and promote the industrialization of the health sector.

(8) Review of the existing system: 

• Bringing such a transformative health system will require a comprehensive review of the existing training institutions, standardizing curricula and the qualifying criteria.
• Improving Federal cooperation in the health sector as health is a state subject.

Conclusion

• India’s healthcare system is too small for such a large population. There seems to be a long battle ahead. The public healthcare system cannot be improved overnight. 
• The country needs all hands on deck-both public and private sectors- working together and delivering the best healthcare services for all citizens.
• Ultimately, the onus of governance always rests with the government, which needs to set standards, invest resources, ensure quality, and strategically purchase services from the private sector, as needed.