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GS Paper: GS3-13.Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc:

  • Par Tapi Narmada River-Linking Project

    The tribals in Gujarat held a public meeting in Kaprada in Valsad district to protest against the Centre’s Par Tapi Narmada (PTN) river-linking project.

    Par Tapi Narmada river-linking project

    • The PTN link project was envisioned under the 1980 National Perspective Plan under the former Union Ministry of Irrigation and the Central Water Commission (CWC).
    • The project proposes to transfer river water from the surplus regions of the Western Ghats to the deficit regions of Saurashtra and Kutch.
    • It proposes to link three rivers — Par, originating from Nashik in Maharashtra and flowing through Valsad, Tapi from Saputara that flows through Maharashtra and Surat in Gujarat, and Narmada originating in Madhya Pradesh and flowing through Maharashtra and Bharuch and Narmada districts in Gujarat.

    Components of the project

    • The link mainly includes the construction of seven dams (Jheri, Mohankavchali, Paikhed, Chasmandva, Chikkar, Dabdar and Kelwan), three diversion weirs and two tunnels.
    • Of these, the Jheri dam falls in Nashik, while the remaining dams are in Valsad and Dang districts of South Gujarat.

    Centre’s role

    • A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Gujarat, Maharashtra and the central government on May 3, 2010.
    • It envisaged that Gujarat would get the benefit of the Par Tapi Narmada link project through en-route irrigation from the link canal and in the drought-prone Saurashtra Kutch region by way of substitution.

    Issues with the Project

    • About 6065 hectares of land area will be submerged due to the proposed reservoirs.
    • A total of 61 villages will be affected, of which one will be fully submerged and the remaining 60 partly.
    • The total number of affected families would be 2,509 of which 98 families would be affected due to the creation of the Jheri reservoir, the only one in Maharashtra, spread over six villages.
    • The affected families may lose their lands or houses or both in the submergence when the reservoirs are created.
    • The districts where the project will be implemented are largely dominated, by tribals who fear displacement.

     

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  • India’s Crude Oil Trade with Russia

    The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has bought two million barrels of Russian crude oil as Indian energy majors forge ahead with attempts to secure a part of the Russian energy supply.

    What is the news?

    • India is exploring alternative payment channels for trade with Russia and the possibility of sourcing additional oil at a discount, even as the West reduces its exposure to Russian oil.
    • Now India needs to make some necessary adjustments in the financial front because of the challenges posed by the American sanctions.

    India’s import dependence and Russia

    • India is heavily dependent on oil imports, the bulk of which comes from the Middle East, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, and South-East Asia.
    • Russia’s oil-related exports to India are only about $1 billion.
    • However, Russia is keen to scale this up even as the US has announced a ban on oil imports from the country and the UK has adopted a more gradual reduction.
    • This offers the opportunity for a lucrative supply deal with the second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia.

    Do you know?

    India’s nuclear power project in Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu is built with Russian collaboration.

    What is at stake in oil trade with Russia?

    • India, however, needs to find alternative payment channels due to the evolving crisis.
    • This is also crucial for bilateral non-oil trade.

    Risks posed by payment crisis

    • Western curbs cutting off some Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system has proven to be a setback for bilateral trade.
    • Many payments worth $500 million to Indian exporters for goods already shipped reportedly being stuck.
    • A steady supply of critical commodities such as fuel and fertilizer from Europe is crucial in India’s efforts to manage inflation.
    • A spike in natural gas in global markets is pushing up the cost of procuring commonly used urea, which is sold at a subsidized price to farmers.

    Why is oil supply from Russia important?

    • As much as 85% of India’s oil requirement is met through imports.
    • The government has tried diversifying its supply sources.
    • This would add more gas into the energy basket, giving a strong push to electric mobility, building strategic reserves and blending ethanol in auto fuel to reduce oil import dependence.
    • Extra oil supplies from Russia could aid in this effort.

    How’re the two nations handling the situation?

    • India and Russia are exploring a Rupee-Rouble trade mechanism using currency of a third country as a reference.
    • This would allow Indian exporters to be paid in rupees.
    • This would need an Indian and a Russian bank opening shop on each other’s soil.
    • Another option is routing payments via a bank with limited overseas exposure so that it will not attract curbs.
    • For additional Russian oil shipments, India needs access to more vessels and containers.
    • Indian refiners’ ability to process larger quantities of crude oil also needs to be assessed.

    Extending the collaborations

    • New Delhi has for long followed the policy of acquiring energy assets abroad to reduce risks related to heavy import dependence on oil.
    • Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd’s investment in Russia’s Sakhalin project is one example.
    • Besides, Russian company PJSC Rosneft Oil Co. is a stakeholder in Nayara Energy Ltd that runs the second largest single-site refinery in Gujarat.

     

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  • What is Vibrant Village Programme?

    The Union government plans to open the villages along the Chinese border for tourists under the Vibrant Village programme announced in the Union Budget 2022-23.

    Vibrant Village Programme

    • The program aims to improve infrastructure in villages along India’s border with China.
    • Infrastructure will be improved in states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Arunachal Pradesh.
    • Under the programme, residential and tourist centres will be constructed.
    • It will also provide for improvement in road connectivity and development of decentralized renewable energy sources.
    • Apart from that, direct access of Doordarshan and education related channels will be provided. Support will be provided for livelihood.

    Key focus areas

    • It focuses livelihood generation, road connectivity, housing, rural infrastructure, renewable energy, television and broadband connections.
    • This objective will be met by strengthening infrastructure across villages located near the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

    Why need such scheme?

    • The programme is a counter to China’s model villages but the name has been carefully chosen so as to not cause any consternation in the neighbouring country.
    • China has established new villages along the LAC in the past few years particularly across the Arunachal Pradesh border.
    • While China has been settling new residents in border areas, villages on the Indian side of the frontier have seen unprecedented out-migration.

     

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  • Why India must cancel its nuclear expansion plans

    Context

    A fire broke out near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine (Europe’s largest) during the course of a military battle. Had the fire affected the cooling system, the plant’s power supply, or its spent fuel pool, a major disaster could have occurred.

    Issues with India’s nuclear expansion plans

    • On December 15, 2021, the Indian government informed Parliament that it plans to build “10 indigenous reactors… in fleet mode” and had granted “in principle approval” for 28 additional reactors, including 24 to be imported from France, the U.S. and Russia.
    • Capital intensive: Nuclear power plants are capital intensive and recent nuclear builds have suffered major cost overruns.
    • Decreasing cost of renewable: In contrast, renewable energy technologies have become cheaper.
    • The Wall Street company, Lazard, estimated that the cost of electricity from solar photovoltaics and wind turbines in the U.S. declined by 90% and 72%, respectively, between 2009-21.
    • Recent low bids are of ₹2.14 per unit for solar power, and ₹2.34 for solar-wind hybrid projects; even in projects coupled with storage, bids are around ₹4.30 per unit.
    • Global trend suggests declining use of nuclear energy: In 1996, 17.5% of the world’s electricity came from nuclear power plants; by 2020, this figure had declined to just around 10%.
    • Safety concerns: In a densely populated country such as India, land is at a premium and emergency health care is far from uniformly available.
    • Local citizens understand that a nuclear disaster might leave large swathes of land uninhabitable — as in Chernobyl — or require a prohibitively expensive clean-up — as in Fukushima, where the final costs may eventually exceed $600 billion.
    • Indemnity clause: Concerns about safety have been accentuated by the insistence of multinational nuclear suppliers that they be indemnified of liability for the consequence of any accident in India.
    • India’s liability law already largely protects them.
    • But the industry objects to the small window of opportunity available for the Indian government to hold them to account.
    • Climate concerns: Climate change will increase the risk of nuclear reactor accidents.
    • Recently, a wildfire approached the Hanul nuclear power plant in South Korea and President Moon Jae-in ordered “all-out efforts” to avoid an accident at the reactors there.
    • In 2020, a windstorm caused the Duane Arnold nuclear plant in the U.S. to cease operations.
    • The frequency of such extreme weather events is likely to increase in the future.

    Consider the question “What are the concerns with the nuclear energy expansion plans of India? Suggest the way forward.”

    Conclusion

    Given the inherent vulnerabilities of nuclear reactors and their high costs, it would be best for the Government to unambiguously cancel its plans for a nuclear expansion.

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    Back2Basics: What is EPR (nuclear reactor)

    • The EPR is a third generation pressurised water reactor design.
    • It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome (part of Areva between 2001 and 2017) and Électricité de France (EDF) in France, and Siemens in Germany.
    • In Europe this reactor design was called European Pressurised Reactor, and the internationalised name was Evolutionary Power Reactor, but it is now simply named EPR.

  • Inland water transport system in India: Potential and challenges

    • Month after setting sail on the Ganga from Patna, a vessel carrying 200 metric tonnes of food grains for the Food Corporation of India (FCI), docked at Guwahati’s Pandu port on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra.
    • The occasion is believed to have taken inland water transport, on two of India’s largest river systems, to the future.

    Why is a Ganga-Brahmaputra cargo vessel in focus?

    • There is nothing unusual about a cargo vessel setting sail from or docking at any river port.
    • This has rekindled hope for the inland water transport system which the landlocked northeast depended on heavily before India’s independence in 1947.

    Inland water service: A necessity for the NE

    • Seamless cargo transportation has been a necessity for the northeast.
    • Around Independence, Assam’s per capita income was the highest in the country.
    • This was primarily because of access for its tea, timber, coal and oil industries to seaports on the Bay of Bengal via the Brahmaputra and the Barak River (southern Assam) systems.
    • Ferry services continued sporadically after 1947 but stopped after the 1965 war with Pakistan, as Bangladesh used to be East Pakistan then.
    • The scenario changed after the river routes were cut off and rail and road through the “Chicken’s Neck”, a narrow strip in West Bengal, became costlier alternatives.
    • The start of cargo movement through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route is going to provide the business community a viable, economic and ecological alternative.

    How did the water cargo service through Bangladesh come about?

    • The resumption of cargo transport service through the waterways in Bangladesh has come at a cost since the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade was signed between the two countries.
    • India has invested 80% of ₹305.84 crore to improve the navigability of the two stretches of the IBP (Indo-Bangladesh Protocol) routes — Sirajganj-Daikhowa and Ashuganj-Zakiganj in Bangladesh.
    • The seven-year dredging project on these two stretches till 2026 is expected to yield seamless navigation to the north-eastern region.
    • With this, the distance between NW1 and NW2 will reduce by almost 1,000 km once the IBP routes are cleared for navigation.

    Policy boosts to IWs

    • The Government has undertaken the Jal Marg Vikas project with an investment of ₹4,600-crore to augment the capacity of NW1 for sustainable movement of vessels weighing up to 2,000 tonnes.
    • Sailors who made the cargo trips possible have had difficulties steering clear of fishing nets and angry fishermen in Bangladesh.
    • These hiccups will get sorted out with time.

    Why go for IWT?

    • Inland Water Transport (IWT) is a fuel-efficient, environment friendly and cost effective mode of transport having potential to supplement the over-burdened rail and congested roads.
    • It is a boon where road transport is least feasible.

    Back2Basics: Inland Waterways

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  • How to handle impact of Ukrainian crisis on India’s energy sector

    Context

    The Ukraine crisis will affect India’s energy landscape in many ways. This article analyses the impact and suggest the policy measures.

    The trajectory of oil prices

    • The inflation-adjusted price of Brent crude is $83/bbl (as of writing, the nominal price is $116 / bbl), which is lower than the peak of $145/ bbl in 2008 and the average price that year of $100/bbl.
    •  In other words, prices could rise much further and we would still not be in uncharted waters.
    • Factors affecting prices: The price trajectory will depend on the duration of the conflict, its impact on global energy demand, countervailing supply measures (for example, drawdown of strategic reserves, diversion of US LNG supplies to Europe, the Iranian nuclear deal which, if signed, could release up to 1 mbd of Iranian crude into the market) and whether in all this mayhem, the pipeline infrastructure currently feeding Russian gas into Europe remains operational.
    • Impact on India’s earnings: Our earnings from petroleum products (diesel, petrol, naphtha) will be adversely impacted.
    • In 2021, these products generated $39 billion in revenue and at 14 per cent, they accounted for the highest share of export earnings.

    Impact on India’s energy assets in Russia

    • ONGC has a 26 per cent stake in the Vankor oil field, a 20 per cent stake in the Sakhalin-1 LNG/oil export complex.
    • All these holdings have eroded substantially in value.
    • In India, Rosneft (the Russian national oil company) operates the 20 mtpa refinery in Vadinar through Nayara Energy.
    • Nayara is not sanctioned but the traders of crude/products might worry about transacting with an Indian company owned by a sanctioned Russian entity.

    Four emergent energy trends that would affect India

    • 1] Energy ties of Russia and China: Only last week, for instance, Gazprom signed off on an agreement to build a second gas pipeline to China christened “Power of Siberia 2”.
    • The “Power of Siberia 1” pipeline has been pumping gas into China since 2019.
    • 2] Emergence of US as second largest producer: The emergence of the US as the largest producer of oil in the world and potentially the largest exporter of LNG.
    • It has the capacity to blunt the impact of a supply shortfall but as it is controlled by profit-maximising private corporates.
    • 3] The ability of Saudi Arabia to swing the crude oil market: It is the one member of OPEC plus with significant spares, low cost, producible capacity (approx 3 mbd) of crude oil.
    • The US has pressured Saudi to bring this volume into the market but they have, as yet, not buckled.
    • 4] China’s dominance over rare earth metals: The chokehold of China over the rare earths, minerals and components that are required to effect the transition to a clean energy system.

    Suggestions for India

    • 1] Take into account uncertainty: Frame the polic around the expectation of continuing volatility.
    • 2] Strategic reserves: Build up strategic reserves to safeguard against the unexpected.
    • 3] Transnational pipelines: Revive conversations with Turkmenistan and Iran about a transnational gas pipeline.
    • 4] Reduce dependence on China for minerals and components required for the transition to clean energy: Fast forward efforts to decouple the supply chain dependence on China for the minerals and components required for the clean energy transition.
    •  And, finally bring in psychologists to get a better fix on the logic that drives the decisions of the energy autocrats in Russia, Saudi Arabia and China.

    Conclusion

    The Ukraine crisis throws up many learnings. But one needs particular emphasis. It is not enough to read the tea leaves of supply, demand and geopolitical trends to understand the trajectory of the energy market.

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  • Why the SilverLine Project makes sense for Kerala

    Context

    The SilverLine Project to be built by the government of Kerala will link Thiruvananthapuram in the south to Kasargode in the north.The project has received its share of criticism, much of it from political quarters, but also some academic sections.

    Need for high-speed rail in Kerala

    • Saturated road network: For Kerala, with its saturated road network, the building of a fast, environmentally-sustainable high-speed rail link must surely be seen as a sound governance response.
    • Indeed, a study of INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contribution) plans under the Paris Climate Agreement is instructive in this context.
    • Low-cost emission option: The EU study on mobility notes that HSR is the least-cost emission option among all modes of long-distance transportation.

    The arguments against the project

    • Critics have put forward three principal lines of argument, namely, its alleged adverse environmental impact, financial unviability, and technical unsuitability.
    • Environmental impact: The most compelling environmental issue before us is climate change.
    • Building capacities now to achieve a carbon net-neutral world over the next three to four decades is a core aspect of the national strategy of all nations.
    • In this context, the SilverLine project scores high with respect to India’s own climate objective of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070.
    • Let us recall the driving forces behind Japan’s decision to develop the Shinkansen.
    • In the context of the global oil crisis, energy-insecure Japan wanted to develop a public transportation system that was energy-efficient and would also address national concerns with respect to imbalanced regional growth.
    • After the Kyoto Protocol was signed, more efforts were made to increase the speed of the various series of Shinkansen to meet the objectives of energy efficiency and CO2 reductions.
    • Financial viability: Large-scale infrastructure projects are not based on short-term financial viability considerations alone.
    • When the London Underground was conceived, it was not considered financially viable.
    • Today, London’s economic activities are inconceivable without it.
    • Green technologies that we consider cheaper than fossil fuel technologies were not initially financially viable, and were unable to survive without government subsidies.

    Conclusion

    There are abundant international examples of the role played by large capital-intensive infrastructure projects in the transformation of the town and country, regions, and nations.

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  • In news: Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB)

    Political parties in Punjab are up in arms over the Centre’s decision to amend the rules regarding appointments to two key positions on the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).

    What is BBMB?

    (a) Origin

    • The genesis of BBMB lies in the Indus Water Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960.
    • Under this, waters of three eastern rivers— Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — were allotted to India for exclusive use while Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers were allocated to Pakistan.
    • In India, a master plan was drawn to harness the potential of these rivers for providing assured irrigation, power generation and flood control.
    • Bhakra and Beas projects form a major part of this plan and were established as a joint venture of the then undivided Punjab and Rajasthan.

    (b) Establishment

    • Following the reorganization of Punjab on November 1, 1966, and the creation of the state of Haryana, the BBMB was constituted under Section 79 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.
    • The administration, maintenance and operation of Bhakra Nangal Dam project was handed over to Bhakra Management on October 1, 1967.
    • On May 15, 1976, when the Beas Projects Works were completed and handed over, the Bhakra Management Board was renamed as Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).
    • Since then, BBMB regulates supply of water and power to Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh.

    What is the constitution of the BBMB management?

    • The BBMB management includes a chairperson and two whole time members who are from the partner states of Punjab and Haryana.
    • They are designated as Member (Power) and Member (Irrigation) from Punjab and Haryana, respectively.
    • There is representation from each member state including Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh as nominated by the respective state governments.
    • The total strength of BBMB is about 12,000 employees and out of these 696 are Group A officers and are posted from the partner states.

    What changes have been made to the BBMB rules?

    • The GoI issued a notification on February 23, 2022 to amend the BBMB Rules 1974, thereby changing the criteria for the selection of whole-time members of the Board.
    • New rules specify technical qualifications for the appointments and pave for the appointment of the members from across India and NOT ONLY from Punjab and Haryana.

    What has been the objection to the new rules?

    • The opposition to the new rules has come from within the engineers’ fraternity, farmers as well as the political parties of Punjab.
    • It is being labeled as an attack on the federal structure of the country.
    • The engineers have pointed out that hardly any engineer would qualify for appointment as per the new specifications.

     

    Back2Basics: Indus Waters Treaty, 1960

    •  The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank signed in Karachi in 1960.
    • According to this agreement, control over the water flowing in three “eastern” rivers of India — the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej was given to India.
    • The control over the water flowing in three “western” rivers of India — the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum was given to Pakistan.
    • The treaty allowed India to use western rivers water for limited irrigation use and unrestricted use for power generation, domestic, industrial and non-consumptive uses such as navigation, floating of property, fish culture, etc. while laying down precise regulations for India to build projects.
    • India has also been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through the run of the river (RoR) projects on the Western Rivers which, subject to specific criteria for design and operation is unrestricted.

     

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  • Land protests over Deocha Pachami Coal Block

    The West Bengal government’s ambitious Deocha Pachami coal block mining project in Birbhum district has run into hurdles over land acquisition and other issues.

    Deocha Pachami Coal Block

    • The State government is planning to start mining at the Deocha Pachami coal block, considered to be the largest coal block in the country with reserves of around 1,198 million tonnes of coal.
    • It is spread over an area of 12.31 sq. km, which is around 3,400 acres.
    • There are around 12 villages in the project area with a population of over 21,000, comprising Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

    Why are locals upset?

    • The project is facing protests over land acquisition of which a significant part is forest land.
    • Locals, mostly Santhal tribals, have close affinity with the land, with forests and waterways, and rely on it for their needs.
    • The tribals were harassed and had been arrested under false and serious charges for protesting.
    • Also, the project details have not yet been made public; and the environment clearance is awaited.

    Back2Basics:

    Coal

    • This is the most abundantly found fossil fuel. It is used as a domestic fuel, in industries such as iron and steel, steam engines and to generate electricity. Electricity from coal is called thermal power.
    • The coal which we are using today was formed millions of years ago when giant ferns and swamps got buried under the layers of earth. Coal is therefore referred to as Buried Sunshine.
    • The leading coal producers of the world include China, US, Australia, Indonesia, India.
    • The coal-producing areas of India include Raniganj, Jharia, Dhanbad and Bokaro in Jharkhand.
    • Coal is also classified into four ranks: anthracite, bituminous, sub-bituminous, and lignite. The ranking depends on the types and amounts of carbon the coal contains and on the amount of heat energy the coal can produce.

     

  • [pib] Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP)

    National Logistics Portal (NLP) is set to be integrated with Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) to make the multi-modal logistics ecosystem more efficient.

    Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP)

    • ULIP is designed to enhance efficiency and reduce the cost of logistics in India by creating a transparent, one window platform that can provide real-time information to all stakeholders.
    • It was also emphasized that the solution should have the visibility of multi-modal transport, and all the existing systems of various ministries, governing bodies, and private stakeholders should be integrated with the ULIP system.
    • This will create a National Single Window Logistics Portal which will help in reducing the logistics cost.
    • ULIP will provide real-time monitoring of cargo movement while ensuring data confidentiality with end-to-end encryption, comprehensive reduction in logistic cost resulting in competitive costing.

    There are three key components which are defining the ULIP platform:

    • Integration with existing data sources of ministries: As authorization, compliance and clearance are some of the critical activities of Logistics; the integration with data points of ministries shall enable a holistic view and interlink the handshaking points.
    • Data exchange with private players: To enable the private players, logistics service providers, and industries to utilize the data available with ULIP and at the same time share their data (transportation, dispatch, delivery, etc.) with ULIP, thereby streamlining the processes to bring better efficiency through data exchange.
    • Unified document reference in the supply chain: To enable a single digitized document reference number for all the documentation processes in a single platform.

     

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