💥Join UPSC 2027,2028 Mentorship (August Batch) + XFactor Notes & Microthemes PDF
Talk to Mentor

Civilsdaily

Login

GS Paper: GS3

  • Possibility of life on Saturn’s Moon

    NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected an unusually high concentration of methane, along with carbon dioxide and dihydrogen, in the moons of Saturn by flying through their plumes.

    What is the new observation?

    • The spacecraft has found that Titan has methane in its atmosphere and Enceladus has a liquid ocean with erupting plumes of gas and water.

    Are there methane-producing organisms on Earth?

    • Most of the methane on Earth has a biological origin.
    • Microorganisms called methanogens are capable of generating methane as a metabolic byproduct.
    • They do not require oxygen to live and are widely distributed in nature.
    • They are found in swamps, dead organic matter, and even in the human gut.
    • They are known to survive in high temperatures and simulation studies have shown that they can live in Martian conditions.
    • Methanogens have been widely studied to understand if they can be a contributor to global warming.

    Could there be methanogens on Enceladus?

    • We cannot conclude that life exists in the Enceladus ocean.
    • It is the probability that Enceladus’ hydrothermal vents could be habitable to Earth-like microorganisms.
    • There can be life hypotheses.

    What other processes could have produced the methane?

    • Methane could be formed by the chemical breakdown of organic matter present in Enceladus’ core.
    • Hydrothermal processes could help the formation of carbon dioxide and methane.
    • On Earth, hydrothermal vents on seafloors are known to release methane, but this happens at a very slow rate.
    • This hypothesis is plausible but only if Enceladus was formed through the accretion of organic-rich material from comets.
    • The results suggest that methane production from hydrothermal vents is not sufficient to explain the high methane concentration detected by Cassini in the plumes.
    • An additional amount of methane produced via biological methanogenesis could match Cassini’s observations.

  • Centre must step up cash flow to states

    Context

    The states are borrowing less than expected in the first quarter of FY 2021-22 despite the negative impact of state-level restrictions, amidst the second Covid wave, on economic activity.

    An overview of borrowing by States

    • In 2020-21, the gross amount raised through state development loans (SDLs) or bonds had jumped to Rs 8 trillion, up from Rs 6.3 trillion in the previous year.
    • The increase was a fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic on state finances.
    • In the first quarter of the current financial year i.e. 2021-22, gross issuances of bonds stood at Rs 1.4 trillion.
    • This amount is 14 per cent lower than the bonds issued last year (Rs 1.7 trillion).
    • This is also around 20 per cent lower than what states had initially indicated they would borrow (Rs 1.8 trillion) through the indicative calendar of market borrowings released by the RBI.
    • As a result, state bond issuances have undershot expectations in the first quarter.

    Factor’s responsible for lower state borrowing

    •  Lower state borrowings were a consequence of three major factors.
    • First, an additional tax devolution of Rs 450 billion from the Centre in late March.
    • This amount was in excess of the Rs 5.5 trillion tax devolution that had been included in the revised estimates for 2020-21.
    • Second, record-high GST collections in April which doubled to Rs 1.3 trillion in the first quarter of this year, up from Rs 0.6 trillion in the same period last year.
    • Third, receipt of substantial grants from the Centre adding up to Rs 436 billion in April-May related to the recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission.

    Factors that could influence the borrowing pattern in the next three quarters

    • First, the varying pace of unlocking and the consequent economic revival in states from June onwards may crucially affect state borrowings in the second quarter.
    • A faster ramp-up of vaccine administration may help some states, reducing the need to borrow.
    • Second, the eventual calendar for raising back-to-back loans by the GoI to compensate states for the loss in their GST revenues could also result in a change in the states’ borrowing schedule.
    • Third, the quantum, and timing of tax devolution will also play a role.

    Why timing of the Central tax devolution matters for States

    • Central tax devolution forms a quarter of states’ combined revenue receipts.
    • This revenue stream has contracted by 15 per cent in the first two months of the year, falling to Rs 392 billion each in April-May this year, from Rs 460 billion last year.
    • If the Centre continues to devolve to states this amount till February 2022, then a massive Rs 2.4 trillion (36 per cent of the budgeted amount) will be left for devolution in March 2022 — assuming that the devolution for the full year is not revised below the budgeted level.
    • From the states’ point of view, this would be rather inefficient from a cash flow perspective.

    Conclusion

    An early step-up in tax devolution by the central government may provide comfort to the states to accelerate expenditure during another uncertain year, without borrowings being pushed up in the next two quarters.

  • Anti-methanogenic feed supplement ‘Harit Dhara’

    An Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institute has developed an anti-methanogenic feed supplement ‘Harit Dhara’.

    Harit Dhara

    • Harit Dhara is prepared using condensed and hydrolysable tannin-rich plant-based sources abundantly available in the country.
    • It changes the composition of the volatile fatty acids that are the end-products of rumen fermentation (along with hydrogen and CO2).
    • It roughly costs Rs 6/kg and it is to be fed only to animals aged above three months having fully functional rumen.
    • When given to bovines and sheep, it not only cuts down their methane emissions by 17-20%.
    • It also results in higher milk production and body weight gain.

    Why it is significant?

    • Belching cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats in India emit an estimated 9.25 million tonnes (mt) to 14.2 mt of methane annually, out of a global total of 90 mt-plus from livestock.
    • And given methane’s global warming potential – 25 times of carbon dioxide (CO2) over 100 years, making it a more potent greenhouse gas – that’s cause for concern.
    • An average lactating cow or buffalo in India emits around 200 litres of methane per day, while it is 85-95 litres for young growing heifers and 20-25 litres for adult sheep.
    • Feeding Harit Dhara can reduce these by a fifth.

    How is methane produced by the cattles?

    • Methane is produced by animals having rumen, the first of their four stomachs where the plant material they eat – cellulose, fibre, starch and sugars – gets fermented or broken down by microorganisms prior to further digestion and nutrient absorption.
    • Carbohydrate fermentation leads to the production of CO2 and hydrogen.
    • These are used as substrate by archaea – microbes in the rumen with structure similar to bacteria – to produce methane, which the animals then expel through burping.
    • Harit Dhara acts by decreasing the population of protozoa microbes in the rumen, responsible for hydrogen production and making it available to the archaea for reduction of CO2 to methane.
    • Tropical plants containing tannins – bitter and astringent chemical compounds – are known to suppress or remove protozoa from the rumen.

    Need for India

    • The 2019 Livestock Census showed India’s cattle population at 193.46 million, along with 109.85 million buffaloes, 148.88 million goats and 74.26 million sheep.
    • Being largely fed on agricultural residues – wheat/paddy straw and maize, sorghum or bajra stover – ruminants in India tend to produce 50-100% higher methane than their industrialized country counterparts.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Consider the following:

    1. Carbon monoxide
    2. Methane
    3. Ozone
    4. Sulphur dioxide

    Which of the above are released into atmosphere due to the burning of crop/biomass residue?

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2, 3 and 4 only

    (c) 1 and 4 only

    (d) 1, 2, 3 and 4

    Back2Basics: CO2 equivalents

    • Each greenhouse gas (GHG) has a different global warming potential (GWP) and persists for a different length of time in the atmosphere.
    • The three main greenhouse gases (along with water vapour) and their 100-year global warming potential (GWP) compared to carbon dioxide are:

    1 x – carbon dioxide (CO2)

    25 x – methane (CH4) – I.e. Releasing 1 kg of CH4into the atmosphere is about equivalent to releasing 25 kg of CO2

    298 x – nitrous oxide (N2O)

    • Water vapour is not considered to be a cause of man-made global warming because it does not persist in the atmosphere for more than a few days.
    • There are other greenhouse gases which have far greater global warming potential (GWP) but are much less prevalent. These are sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).
    • There are a wide variety of uses for SF6, HFCs, and PFCs but they have been most commonly used as refrigerants and for fire suppression.
    • Many of these compounds also have a depleting effect on ozone in the upper atmosphere.

  • Discrete Auroras on Mars

    The UAE’s Hope spacecraft, which is orbiting Mars since February this year, has captured images of glowing atmospheric lights in the Red Planet’s night sky, known as discrete auroras.

    What causes an Aurora on Earth?

    • Auroras are caused when charged particles ejected from the Sun’s surface — called the solar wind — enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
    • These particles are harmful, and our planet is protected by the geomagnetic field, which preserves life by shielding us from the solar wind.
    • However, at the north and south poles, some of these solar wind particles are able to continuously stream down, and interact with different gases in the atmosphere to cause a display of light in the night sky.
    • This display, known as an aurora, is seen from the Earth’s high latitude regions (called the auroral oval), and is active all year round.

    Where are they observed on Earth?

    • In the northern part of our globe, the polar lights are called aurora borealis or Northern Lights and are seen from the US (Alaska), Canada, Iceland, Greenland, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
    • In the south, they are called aurora australis or southern lights and are visible from high latitudes in Antarctica, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.

    So, how are Martian auroras different?

    • Unlike auroras on Earth, which are seen only near the north and south poles, discrete auroras on Mars are seen all around the planet at night time.
    • Unlike Earth, which has a strong magnetic field, the Martian magnetic field has largely died out.
    • This is because the molten iron at the interior of the planet– which produces magnetism– has cooled.
    • However, the Martian crust, which hardened billions of years ago when the magnetic field still existed, retains some magnetism.
    • So, in contrast with Earth, which acts like one single bar magnet, magnetism on Mars is unevenly distributed, with fields strewn across the planet and differing in direction and strength.
    • These disjointed fields channel the solar wind to different parts of the Martian atmosphere, creating “discrete” auroras over the entire surface of the planet as charged particles interact with atoms and molecules in the sky– as they do on Earth.

    Why is it important to study them?

    • Studying Martian auroras is important for scientists, for it can offer clues as to why the Red Planet lost its magnetic field and thick atmosphere– among the essential requirements for sustaining life.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Which region of Mars has a densely packed river deposit indicating this planet had water 3.5 billion years ago?

    (a) Aeolis Dorsa

    (b) Tharsis

    (c) Olympus Mons

    (d) Hellas

    Back2Basics:

    Hope Orbiter

    • The Hope Probe, the Arab world’s first mission to Mars, took off from Earth in July last year, and has been orbiting the Red Planet since February.
    • The primary objective of the mission is to study Martian weather dynamics.
    • By correlating the lower atmosphere and upper atmosphere conditions, the probe will look into how weather changes the escape of hydrogen and oxygen into space.
    • By measuring how much hydrogen and oxygen is spilling into space, scientists will be able to look into why Mars lost so much of its early atmosphere and liquid water.
    • It is expected to create the first complete portrait of the planet’s atmosphere.
    • With the information gathered during the mission, scientists will have a better understanding of the climate dynamics of different layers of Mars’ atmosphere.

    Mars

    • Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being larger than only Mercury.
    • In English, Mars carries the name of the Roman god of war and is often referred to as the “Red Planet”.
    • The latter refers to the effect of the iron oxide prevalent on Mars’s surface, which gives it a reddish appearance distinctive among the astronomical bodies visible to the naked eye.
    • Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, with surface features reminiscent of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.
    • The days and seasons are comparable to those of Earth, because the rotational period, as well as the tilt of the rotational axis relative to the ecliptic plane, is similar.
    • Mars is the site of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano and highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System, and of Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System.

  • New online platform maps Pegasus spread

    An online database about the use of the spyware Pegasus was recently launched by the Forensic Architecture, Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab to document attacks against human rights defenders.

    What is Pegasus?

    • Last year, one of the biggest stories that broke into cyberspace was WhatsApp’s reports that 1,400 of its users were hacked by Pegasus, a spyware tool from Israeli firm NSO Group.
    • All spyware do what the name suggests — they spy on people through their phones.
    • Pegasus works by sending an exploit link, and if the target user clicks on the link, the malware or the code that allows the surveillance is installed on the user’s phone.
    • A presumably newer version of the malware does not even require a target user to click a link.
    • Once Pegasus is installed, the attacker has complete access to the target user’s phone.

    Why is Pegasus dangerous?

    • What makes Pegasus really dangerous is that it spares no aspect of a person’s identity. It makes older techniques of spying seem relatively harmless.
    • It can intercept every call and SMS, read every email and monitor each messaging app.
    • Pegasus can also control the phone’s camera and microphone and has access to the device’s location data.
    • The app advertises that it can carry out “file retrieval”, which means it could access any document that a target might have stored on their phone.

  • [pib] Export of GI certified Bhalia Wheat

    In a major boost to wheat exports, the first shipment of Geographical Indication (GI) certified Bhalia variety of wheat was exported today to Kenya and Sri Lanka from Gujarat.

    Bhalia Wheat

    • The GI certified wheat has high protein content and is sweet in taste.
    • The crop is grown mostly across Bhal region of Gujarat which includes Ahmadabad, Anand, Kheda, Bhavanagar, Surendranagar, Bharuch districts.
    • The unique characteristic of the wheat variety is that grown in the rainfed condition without irrigation and cultivated in around two lakh hectares of agricultural land in Gujarat.
    • The Bhalia variety of wheat received GI certification in July, 2011.
    • The registered proprietor of GI certification is Anand Agricultural University, Gujarat.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Which of the following has/have been accorded ‘Geographical Indication’ status?

    1. Banaras Brocades and Sarees
    2. Rajasthani Daal-Bati-Churma
    3. Tirupathi Laddu

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Back2Basics: Geographical Indication (GI)

    • The World Intellectual Property Organization defines a GI as “a sign used on products that have a specific geographical origin and possess qualities or a reputation that are due to that origin”.
    • GIs are typically used for agricultural products, foodstuffs, handicrafts, industrial products, wines and spirit drinks.
    • Internationally, GIs are covered as an element of intellectual property rights under the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
    • They have also covered under the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement.

  • [pib] Authorised Economic Operators

    Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) has inaugurated the online filing of Authorised Economic Operators (AEO) T2 and T3 applications.

    Who are Authorised Economic Operators?

    • The AEO concept is one of the main building blocks within the WCO SAFE Framework of Standards (SAFE).
    • The latter is part of the future international Customs model set out to support secure trade.
    • The growth of global trade and increasing security threats to the international movement of goods have forced customs administrations to shift their focus more and more to securing the international trade flow and away from the traditional task of collecting customs duties.
    • Recognizing these developments, the World Customs Organization, drafted the WCO Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate global trade (SAFE).
    • In the framework, several standards are included that can assist Customs administrations in meeting these new challenges.
    • Developing an Authorized Economic Operator programme is a core part of SAFE.

    AEOs in India

    • AEO is a voluntary programme.
    • It enables Indian Customs to enhance and streamline cargo security through close cooperation with the principal stakeholders of the international supply chain viz. importers, exporters, logistics providers, custodians or terminal operators, customs brokers and warehouse operators.

    Back2Basics: World Customs Organization (WCO)

    • WCO is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.
    • The WCO is noted for its work in areas covering international trade facilitation, customs enforcement activities, combating counterfeiting in support of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), drugs enforcement, illegal weapons trading, integrity promotion, and delivering the sustainable capacity building to assist with customs reforms and modernization.
    • The WCO represents 179 Customs administrations that collectively process approximately 98% of world trade.
    • As the global centre of Customs expertise, the WCO has the tools and expertise to assist implementation of all legal, policy, procedural, technological, and human resource aspects related to trade facilitation.
    • The WCO maintains the international Harmonized System (HS) goods nomenclature and administers the technical aspects of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements on Customs Valuation and Rules of Origin.

  • How India can face the tidal wave of marine plastic

    The problem of marine plastic pollution has reached a new peak. Hence it must be tackled from various perspectives. This article discusses some of them.

    Plastic use in India

    • The Central Pollution Control Board’s (CPCB) Annual Report on Implementing the Plastic Garbage Rules, 2016, is the only regular estimate of the quantum of plastic waste generated in India.
    • According to it, the waste generated in 2018-19 was 3,360,043 tonnes per year (roughly 9,200 tonnes per day).
    • Given that total municipal solid waste generation is between 55 and 65 million tonnes per day, plastic waste contributes about 5-6 per cent of total solid waste generated in India.

    What happens to Plastic Waste?

    • Only nine per cent of all plastic waste has ever been recycled.
    • Approximately 12 per cent has been burnt, while the remaining 79 per cent has accumulated in landfills.
    • Plastic waste is blocking our sewers, threatening marine life and generating health risks for residents in landfills or the natural environment.

    Marine plastic pollution

    • Incredibly vast and deep, the ocean acts as a huge sink for global pollution. Some of the plastic in the ocean originates from ships that lose cargo at sea.
    • Abandoned plastic fishing nets and longlines – known as ghost gear – is also a large source, making up about 10% of plastic waste at sea.
    • Marine aquaculture contributes to the problem, too, mainly when the polystyrene foam that’s used to make the floating frames of fish cages makes its way into the sea.
    • The financial costs of marine plastic pollution are significant as well.
    • According to conservative forecasts made in March 2020, the direct harm to the blue economy of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will be $2.1 billion per year.

    Threats posed to coastal areas

    • Enormous social costs accompany these economic costs.
    • Residents of coastal regions suffer from the harmful health impacts of plastic pollution and waste brought in by the tides and are inextricably linked to the fishing and tourism industry for their livelihoods.
    • Therefore, we must begin finding solutions to prevent plastics and other waste from polluting our oceans and clean them up.

    Tackling the issue

    The problem of marine plastic pollution can — and must — be tackled from a range of perspectives. Some of the solutions are as follows:

    1.Designing a product: Identifying plastic items that can be replaced with non-plastic, recyclable, or biodegradable materials is the first step. Find alternatives to single-use plastics and reusable design goods by working with product designers.

    2.Pricing: Plastics are inexpensive because they are made with substantially subsidized oil and may be produced at a lower cost, with fewer economic incentives to employ recycled plastics.

    3.Technologies and Innovation: Developing tools and technology to assist governments and organizations in measuring and monitoring plastic garbage in cities. ‘Closing the loop’ project of the UN assists cities in developing more inventive policy solutions to tackle the problem. A similar approach can be adopted in India. 

    4.Promoting a plastic-free workplace: All catering operations should be prohibited from using single-use plastics. To encourage workers and clients to improve their habits, all single-use goods can be replaced with reusable items or more sustainable alternatives.

    5.Producer responsibility: Extended responsibility can be applied in the retail (packaging) sector, where producers are responsible for collecting and recycling products that they launch into the market.

    6.Municipal and community actions: Beach and river clean-ups, public awareness campaigns explaining how people’s actions contribute to marine plastic pollution (or how they may solve it) and disposable plastic bag bans and levies.

    7.Multi-stakeholder collaboration: Government ministries at the national and local levels must collaborate in the development, implementation and oversight of policies, which includes participation from industrial firms, non-governmental organisations and volunteer organisations. Instead of acting in silos, all these stakeholders must collaborate and synchronise with one another.

    Way forward

    • Solving the problem of marine plastic involves a change in production and consumption habits, which would help meet the SDGs.
    • Apart from the solutions mentioned above, the government can take several steps to combat plastic pollution.
    • Identifying hotspots for plastic leakage can assist governments in developing effective policies that address the plastic problem directly.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.Why is there a great concern about the ‘microbeads’ that are released into environment? (CSP 2019)

    (a) They are considered harmful to marine ecosystems.

    (b) They are considered to cause skin cancer in children.

    (c) They are small enough to be absorbed by crop plants in irrigated fi elds.

    (d) They are often found to be used as food adulterants.

  • Rajasthan’s rural power solution that other states can emulate

    Power regulatory body in Rajasthan recently ordered discoms to solarise unelectrified public schools. The move has several benefits and therefore can be emulated by the other states as well. 

    Expanded electricity access in rural areas and shortcomings in it

    • Estimates suggest that India has doubled the electrified rural households, from 55% in 2010 to 96% in 2020.
    • However, the measure of access to power supply has been the number of households that have been connected to the electricity grid.
    • This measure discounts large areas of essential and productive human activities such as public schools and primary health centres.
    • And despite greater electrification, power supply is often unreliable in rural areas.

    Solar energy: Solution to electrification in remote parts

    • To address the above problems, the Rajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission (RERC) has ordered the State’s discoms to solarise unelectrified public schools.
    • The RERC has also suggested installation of batteries to ensure storage of power.
    • Apart from enabling education, this ruling would benefit several other crucial aspects of rural life.
    • The RERC order also directed discoms to seek corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for the solarising drive and allows schools ownership of the power systems in a phased manner.
    • This removes the burden of infrastructure development expenses on discoms, while also ensuring clean energy for the schools.
    • The power that is generated could also be counted towards the discoms’ Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO).
    • Large-scale projects are generally financed by companies that wish to profit from economies of scale.
    • They are less interested in investing in rural electricity as it is not as lucrative.
    • Large-grid based projects add to the supply of power in urban areas, and therefore, only marginally further greater energy access goals.

    The decentralised model of power generation

    • While Rajasthan has land mass with vast, sparsely populated tracts available to install solar parks, bulk infrastructure of this scale is susceptible to extreme weather events.
    • With climate change increasing the possibility of such events, a decentralised model of power generation would prove to be more climate resilient.
    • With battery storage, the susceptibility of grid infrastructure to extreme weather events could be mitigated.
    • This is called climate proofing.
    • As solar installations become inexpensive and with rapidly advancing battery storage technologies, decentralised solar power generation has become a reality.

    Conclusion

    The ruling by Rajasthan’s power regulator not only helps in increasing access to electricity, achieving targets of renewable energy but also suggests solutions that other States could emulate.

  • The problem now with the military synergy plan

    The recent controversy over the alleged marginalization of the Indian Air Force (IAF) in the proposed ‘theaterisation’ of the national security landscape has led to some debates.

    IAF concerned over ITC

    • The Indian military continues to work in silos, like all governmental agencies in India, and a need was rightly felt and directions issued by PM to bring about jointness.
    • The aim is to bring about synergy in operations while economizing through the elimination of duplication and wasteful practices or processes.
    • IAF is keen to bring in the requisite reforms to improve the war-fighting capabilities of the Indian military as a whole while also economizing.

    Reservations of IAF

    • In the current formulation of theatres, the objections from the IAF have essentially been due to air power being seen as an adjunct to the two surface forces.
    • IAF veterans feel that the IAF is being divided into penny packets which would seriously degrade the effectiveness of air operations in any future conflict or contingency.
    • They feel that the use of air power is found to be sub-optimal under the military ethos of “an order is an order”.

    Hurry by the CDS

    • Concurrently, such an intellectual exercise would identify duplication, wasteful resources and practices.
    • This is what the CDS should have been pursuing before first freezing the structure and then trying to glue the pieces together or hammer square pegs in round holes.
    • Only such a strategy can define the types of contingencies the military is expected to address, leading to appropriate military strategies, doctrines and required capabilities.

    Why is the IAF right?

    • Airpower is the lead element, particularly since the Indian political aim, even in the foreseeable future, is unlikely to be the occupation of new territories.
    • A large, manpower-intensive army with unusable armour formations would then also come into focus.
    • Even the proposed air defence command conflicts with the domain command in the seamless employment of airpower.
    • It is due to the absence of such an intellectual exercise that the IAF does not wish to see its limited resources scattered away in fighting defensive battles by a land force commander with little expertise.
    • The Army fails to realise that offensive air power is best not seen, busy keeping the enemy air force pinned down elsewhere as shown in 1971.

    The Army-Air Force silo

    • Historically, the Indian Army has always kept the IAF out of the information loop and demonstrated a penchant to ‘go it alone’.
    • The charge that the IAF joined the party late during Kargil (1999) is also totally baseless and shows a lack of knowledge of events and a failure to learn from historical facts.
    • Recorded facts and a dispassionate view would clearly show that the IAF began conducting reconnaissance missions as soon as the Army just made a request for attack helicopters.
    • This despite the IAF pointing out the unsuitability of armed helicopters at these altitudes and their vulnerability.
    • The use of offensive air power close to the Line of Control also required that the political leadership be kept informed due to possibilities of escalation, something that the Army was unwilling to do.

    Echoes from Kargil

    • Seen in this light, the Chinese incursion into Eastern Ladakh last year is reminiscent of Kargil.
    • While the response has been swift, it is evident that a clear intent to use combat air power, as against 1962, has significantly contributed in deterring China.
    • However, such intent and a joint strategy would have been forcefully signalled by the presence of air force representatives in the ongoing negotiations to restore status quo ante.
    • The continuing build-up of the infrastructure for the PLA Air Force in Tibet further emphasizes the need for an air-land strategy, with air power as the lead element to deter or defeat the Chinese designs at coercion.

    National security strategy should be at the centerstage

    • If war is the continuation of politics by other means, then it is essential to first define the political objectives flowing into a national security strategy before any effective use of force can be truly contemplated.
    • The failures of the mightiest militaries in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and even our own Indian misadventure in Sri Lanka bear testimony to the lack of clear political objectives and appropriate military strategies.
    • It is, therefore, unfortunate that even after over seven decades after Independence, India still does not have a clearly articulated national security strategy.

    Address the structural gaps

    • Finally, theatre or any lower structure requires an institutionalized higher defence organization, which has been sadly missing.
    • This has lead to little regular dialogue between the political and military leadership, except in crises resulting in knee-jerk responses.
    • This led to a remark from a scholar-warrior that, “it is ironic that the Cabinet has an Accommodation Committee but not a Defence Committee”.
    • In the current proposal, it appears that the CDS, as the permanent chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC), would also exercise operational control of the theatre/functional commands.

    Way forward

    • Prudence demands that instead of ramming down such structures without adequate deliberations and discussions with all stakeholders.
    • We need to first evolve appropriate military strategies in a nuclear backdrop in concert with the political objectives.
    • Thereafter, joint planning and training for all foreseen contingencies, with war-gaming, would automatically indicate the required structures with suitable command, control and communications.

    Conclusion

    • We must remember that in war there is no prize for the runner-up.
    • It is better that such objections and dissenting opinions come out now before the structure is formalized than once it is set in stone.
    • The nation would then end up paying a heavy price, with the Air Force carrying the burden and blame for the failures.