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GS Paper: GS3

  • Mandatory rice fortification policy should be re-examined

    Context

    To deal with the high prevalence of anaemia, the government has been pursuing the policy of food fortification with iron. This policy needs a rethink.

    Rice-fortification policy

    • There are high levels of anaemia in India, affecting women and children equally.
    • This is despite the corrective measures like mandatory supplementation of iron tablets through Anaemia Mukt Bharat programme of pharmaceutical iron supplementation.
    • To deal with the issue, the government has decided on compulsory rice fortification in safety-net feeding programmes like the ICDS, PDS and school mid-day meals.
    • This was announced by the Prime Minister in his recent Independence Day address to the nation.
    • The mandatory rice fortification programme is being piloted in some districts already.
    • Food fortification is considered attractive as it requires no behavioural modification by the beneficiary.

    Why iron fortification policy needs re-examination?

    1) Over-estimation of anaemia burden

    • High WHO cutoff for Hg levels: WHO haemoglobin cut-offs are used to diagnose anaemia in India.
    • There is a growing global consensus that these may be too high.
    • A recent Lancet paper suggested a lower haemoglobin cut-off level to diagnose anaemia in Indian children.
    • Using this will actually reduce the anaemia burden by two-thirds.
    • Capillary Vs venous blood sample: Haemoglobin level can be falsely low when a capillary blood sample (taken by finger-prick) is used for measurement, instead of the more reliable venous blood sample (taken with a syringe from an arm vein). The anaemia burden in India is estimated from capillary blood, which inflates the anaemia burden substantially.
    • If the recommended venous blood sample is used, it would halve this burden.
    • There is, thus, a significant overestimation of anaemia burden.

    2) Other nutrients and protein intake

    • A MoHFW national survey (Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey) of Indian children showed that iron deficiency was related to less than half the anaemia cases.
    • Many other nutrients and adequate protein intake are also important, for which a good diverse diet is required.

    3) Iron requirement over-estimated

    • The idea for iron fortification comes from the premise that a normal Indian diet cannot possibly meet an individual’s daily iron requirement.
    • This is wrong thinking, and is based on older iron requirements (as per National Institute of Nutrition [NIN] 2010), which were much too high.
    • The latest corrected iron requirements (NIN 2020) are 30-40 per cent lower.
    • The iron density of the Indian vegetarian diet, about 9 mg/1000 kCal, can thus meet most requirements.

    4) Challenges in rice fortification

    • Rice fortification is very complex.
    • It requires a fortified rice “kernel” or grain that is composed of rice flour paste, along with the required concentration of micronutrients and binders, extruded into a grain that exactly matches the shape of the rice it is intended to fortify.
    • The problem lies in making “matching” kernels for each rice cultivar that is distributed in the food safety-net programmes from year to year and state to state.
    • If it does not match, the instinct of a home cook will be to pick out and discard the odd grains, thereby defeating the purpose of fortification.

    Risks involved

    • Ingesting fortified salt (two teaspoons, 10 g/day) or rice (quarter kilo/day) will deliver an additional 10 mg iron/day each to the diet.
    • When the iron intake exceeds 40 mg/day, the risk of toxicity goes up.
    • The unabsorbed iron that remains in the gut can wreak havoc among the beneficial bacteria in the large intestine.
    • Iron causes oxidative stress, and more seriously, is implicated in diabetes and cancer risk. Men will also be more at risk.

    Way forward

    • We just need to absorb the existing dietary iron better and complement this with all the other nutrients that are required, by eating a diverse diet (with fruits and vegetables, for example), and improving our environment.
    • Indeed, it is well-known that the benefits derived from the nutrients in whole foods are greater than the sum of their parts.

     Conclusion

    We need to rethink our reductionist strategies if we are to deliver food and nutrition security to our people.

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  • The dangers of India’s palm oil push

    Context

    On August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a support of Rs 11,000 crore to incentivise oil palm production.

    National Mission on Edible Oils and Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)

    • Under NMEO-OP, the government intends to bring an additional 6.5 lakh hectares under oil palm cultivation.
    • The agro-business industry has said the move will help its growth and reduce the country’s dependence on palm oil imports, especially from Indonesia and Malaysia.
    • Indonesia has emerged as a significant palm oil hub in the last decade and has overtaken Malaysia.
    • The two countries produce 80 per cent of global oil palm.
    • Indonesia exports more than 80 per cent of its production.

    Reducing the import dependence

    • India imported 18.41 million tonnes of vegetable oil in 2018.
    • The National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm are part of the government’s efforts to reduce the dependence on vegetable oil production.
    • The Yellow Revolution of the 1990s led to a rise in oilseeds production.
    • Though there has been a continuous increase in the production of diverse oilseeds — groundnut, rapeseed and mustard, soybean — that has not matched the increasing demand.
    • Most of these oilseeds are grown in rain-fed agriculture areas of Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

    Issues with oil palm cultivation in India

    • Impact on biodiversity: Studies on agrarian change in Southeast Asia have shown that increasing oil palm plantations is a major reason for the region’s declining biodiversity. 
    • The Northeast is recognised as the home of around 850 bird species, it is also home to citrus fruits, it is rich in medicinal plants and harbours rare plants and herbs.
    • Above all, it has 51 types of forests.
    • Studies conducted by the government have also highlighted the Northeast’s rich biodiversity.
    • The palm oil policy could destroy this richness of the region.
    • To preserve the environment and biodiversity, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have already started putting restrictions on palm tree plantation.
    • Water pollution: Along with adversely impacting the country’s biodiversity, it has led to increasing water pollution.
    • Climate change: The decreasing forest cover has significant implications with respect to increasing carbon emission levels and contributing to climate change.
    • Against the notion of self-reliance: Such initiatives are also against the notion of community self-reliance:
    • The initial state support for such a crop results in a major and quick shift in the existing cropping pattern that are not always in sync with the agro-ecological conditions and food requirements of the region.
    • Against commitment to sustainable agriculture: The policy also contradicts the government’s commitments under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture.
    • The mission aims at “Making agriculture more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient by promoting location specific integrated/composite farming systems.”
    • The palm oil mission, instead, aims at achieving complete transformation of the farming system of Northeast India.
    • Studies also show that in case of variations in global palm oil prices, households dependent on palm oil cultivation become vulnerable.

    Consider the question “India depend on import for its vegetable oil requirements to a larger extent. What are the steps taken by the government to reduce the dependence? Can oil palm cultivation in India be a solution?”

    Conclusion

    Similar environmental and political outcomes cannot be ruled out in India. Apart from the possible hazardous impacts in Northeast India, such trends could have negative implications on farmer incomes, health, and food security in other parts of the country in the long run.

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  • SUJALAM Campaign

    The Ministry of Jal Shakti began ‘SUJALAM’, a ‘100 days campaign’ to create more and more ODF Plus villages by undertaking wastewater management at the village level.

    SUJALAM Campaign

    The key activities that will be organized in the villages under this campaign include:

    • Organizing Community consultations, Khuli Baithaks and Gram Sabha meetings to analyze the current situation
    • Pass resolution to maintain ODF sustainability and achieve a needed number of soak pits to manage the greywater
    • Develop a 100 days’ plan to undertake sustainability and soak pit construction-related activities
    • Construct a requisite number of soak pits
    • Retrofit toilets where needed through IEC and community mobilization and
    • Ensure all newly emerging Households in the village have access to toilets

    Objectives of the campaign

    • The effort of the campaign would be directed towards achieving the ODF plus status for villages across the country in an accelerated manner in a short time.
    • The campaign will not only build desired infrastructure soak pit for management of greywater in villages but will also aid in sustainable management of water bodies.
    • The disposal of wastewater and clogging of water bodies in the villages or on the outskirts of the villages remain one of the major problems.
    • The Campaign would help in the management of the wastewater and in turn, would help to revive the water bodies.

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  • [pib] Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA) Project

    NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute (WRI), India, jointly launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India as part of the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia (NDC-TIA).

    Transport Initiative for Asia

    • The NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023) is a joint programme that will engage China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a comprehensive approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries.
    • The project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI).
    • NITI Aayog is the implementing partner for the India component of the project.
    • The project aims at bringing down the peak level of GHG emissions (transport sector) in Asia (in line with a well below 2-degree pathway), resulting in problems like congestion and air pollution.

    Why need such initiative?

    • India has a massive and diverse transport sector, which is also the third most CO2 emitting sector.
    • Data suggests that within the transport sector, road transport contributes to more than 90% of the total CO2 emissions.
    • The NDC-TIA India component focuses on developing a coherent strategy of effective policies and the formation of a multi-stakeholder platform for decarbonizing transport in the country.

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  • Places in news: Corbett Tiger Reserve

    The Delhi High Court has asked the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to consider as a representation a petition to stop the alleged illegal construction of bridges and walls within the tiger breeding habitat of the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

    Jim Corbett National Park

    • Jim Corbett NP is the oldest national park in India and was established in 1936 as Hailey National Park to protect the endangered Bengal tiger.
    • It is located in Nainital district and Pauri Garhwal district of Uttarakhand and was named after hunter and naturalist Jim Corbett.
    • The park was the first to come under the Project Tiger initiative.
    • It has sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological characteristics.
    • Dense moist deciduous forest mainly consists of sal, haldu, peepal, rohini and mango trees.
    • Forest covers almost 73% of the park, while 10% of the area consists of grasslands.

    Try answering this PYQ:

    Among the following Tiger Reserves, which one has the largest area under “Critical Tiger Habitat” ? (CSP 2020)

    (a) Corbett

    (b) Ranthambore

    (c) Nagarjunasagar- Srisailam

    (d) Sunderbans

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”j0d533r4jj” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answers here:[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

    Back2Basics: National Tiger Conservation Authority

    • The NTCA was established in December 2005, following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force, constituted by the Prime Minister of India.
    • The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 was amended in 2006 to provide for constituting NTCA responsible for the implementation of the Project Tiger plan to protect endangered tigers.
    • It works for the reorganized management of Project Tiger and the many Tiger Reserves in India.
    • A program for protection called, ‘Tiger Protection Program’ (popularly known as Project Tiger) was started in 1973, by the GOI in co-operation with WWF.

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  • Issues in India’s Cyclone Management

    Context

    The severe cyclones, Tauktae and Yaas, battered India earlier this year. With a rise in the frequency of devastating cyclones, India needs to look at long-term mitigation measures.

    India’s vulnerability

    • The Indian coastline is around 7,500 km; there are 96 coastal districts (which touch the coast or are close to it), with 262 million people exposed to cyclones and tsunamis.
    • The World Bank and the United Nations (2010) estimate that around 200 million city residents would be exposed to storms and earthquakes by 2050 in India.
    • Between 1891 and 2020, out of the 313 cyclones crossing India’s eastern and western coasts, the west coast experienced 31 cyclones, while 282 cyclones crossed the east coast.
    • Among the natural disasters, cyclones constituted the second most frequent phenomena that occurred in 15% of India’s total natural disasters over 1999-2020.
    • According to the Global Climate Risk Index report 2021, India ranks the seventh worst-hit country globally in 2019 due to the frequent occurrence of extreme weather-related events.
    • Increase in frequency: According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), 2013 data frequency of cyclones in the coastal States accounting increased by 7%.
    • Factor’s responsible: Increasing sea surface temperatures in the northern Indian Ocean and the geo-climatic conditions in India are the factors responsible for the increase in frequency.

    Economic cost

    • Between 1999 and 2020, cyclones inflicted substantial damage to public and private properties, amounting to an increase in losses from $2,990 million to $14,920 million in the absence of long-term mitigation measures.
    • India lost around 2% of GDP and 15% of total revenue over 1999-2020.
    • Between 1999-2020, around 12,388 people were killed, and the damage was estimated at $32,615 million.
    • Cyclones are the second most expensive in terms of the costs incurred in damage, accounting for 29% of the total disaster-related damages after floods (62%).
    • In addition, they are the third most lethal disaster in India after earthquakes (42%) and floods (33%).

    Odisha model

    • In the aftermath of the 1999 super cyclone, the Government of Odisha took up various cyclone mitigation measures.
    • These included installing a disaster warning system in the coastal districts, and construction of evacuation shelters in cyclone-prone districts.
    • Other steps were the setting up of the Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA), conducting regular cabinet meetings for disaster preparedness, and building the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF).

    Way forward

    • Still, Odisha’s disaster management model is inadequate to minimise the economic losses that result from cyclones.
    • Therefore, the Government of India should adopt a few measures to minimise disaster damage and fatalities.
    • Improve warning system: It is imperative to improve the cyclone warning system and revamp disaster preparedness measures.
    • Increase cover under shelterbelt plantation: The Government must widen the cover under shelterbelt plantations and help regenerate mangroves in coastal regions to lessen the impact of cyclones.
    • In addition, adopting cost-effective, long-term mitigation measures, including building cyclone-resilient infrastructure such as constructing storm surge-resilient embankments, canals and improving river connectivity to prevent waterlogging in low-lying areas are important.
    • Disaster resilient power infrastructure: installing disaster-resilient power infrastructure in the coastal districts, providing concrete houses to poor and vulnerable households, and creating massive community awareness campaigns are essential.
    • Coordination between Centre-State: Healthy coordination between the Centre and the States concerned is essential to collectively design disaster mitigation measures.
    • Collective mitigation effort by the Centre and States that can help reduce the fiscal burden of States and also be effective in minimising disaster deaths.

    Conclusion

    Long term mitigation measures are essential to minimise the impact of the disasters such as cyclones.

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  • Delhi’s new Smog Tower

    Ahead of its infamous smog season, Delhi has got a ‘smog tower’, a technological aid to help combat air pollution.

    What are Smog Towers?

    • Smog towers are structures designed to work as large-scale air purifiers. They are fitted with multiple layers of air filters and fans at the base to suck the air.
    • After the polluted air enters the smog tower, it is purified by the multiple layers before being re-circulated into the atmosphere.

    Structure of the Delhi smog tower

    • The structure is 24 m high, about as much as an 8-storey building — an 18-metre concrete tower, topped by a 6-metre-high canopy. At its base are 40 fans, 10 on each side.
    • Each fan can discharge 25 cubic metres per second of air, adding up to 1,000 cubic metres per second for the tower as a whole. Inside the tower in two layers are 5,000 filters.
    • The filters and fans have been imported from the United States.

    How does it work?

    • The tower uses a ‘downdraft air cleaning system’ developed by the University of Minnesota.
    • Polluted air is sucked in at a height of 24 m, and filtered air is released at the bottom of the tower, at a height of about 10 m from the ground.
    • When the fans at the bottom of the tower operate, the negative pressure created sucks in air from the top.
    • The ‘macro’ layer in the filter traps particles of 10 microns and larger, while the ‘micro’ layer filters smaller particles of around 0.3 microns.
    • The downdraft method is different from the system used in China, where a tower uses an ‘updraft’ system — air is sucked in from near the ground, and is propelled upwards by heating and convection.
    • Filtered air is released at the top of the tower.

    Likely impact

    • Computational fluid dynamics modelling suggests the tower could have an impact on the air quality up to 1 km from the tower.
    • The actual impact will also determine how the tower functions under different weather conditions, and how levels of PM2.5 vary with the flow of air.

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  • National Monetization Pipeline

    The Union Finance Minister has launched the National Monetization Pipeline for the brownfield infrastructure assets.

    What is Asset Monetization?

    • Asset Monetization involves the creation of new sources of revenue by unlocking of the value of hitherto unutilized or underutilized public assets.
    • Internationally, it is recognized that public assets are a significant resource for all economies.
    • Many public sector assets are sub-optimally utilized and could be appropriately monetized to create greater financial leverage and value for the companies and of the equity that the government has invested in them.
    • This helps in the accurate estimation of public assets which would help in the better financial management of government/public resources over time.

    National Monetization Pipeline (NMP)

    • The NMP comprises a four-year pipeline of the Central Government’s brownfield infrastructure assets.
    • It will serve as a medium-term roadmap for the Asset Monetization initiative of the government, apart from providing visibility for the investors.
    • Incidentally, the 2021-22 Union Budget, laid a lot of emphasis on Asset Monetization as a means to raise innovative and alternative financing for infrastructure.
    • It has to be noted that the government views asset monetization as a strategy for the augmentation and maintenance of infrastructure, and not just a funding mechanism.

    What is the plan?

    • NMP is envisaged to serve as a medium-term roadmap for identifying potential monetization-ready projects, across various infrastructure sectors.
    • It estimates aggregate monetization potential of Rs 6.0 lakh crores through core assets of the Central Government, over a four-year period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025.

    Objectives of the program

    • NMP aims for universal access to high-quality and affordable infrastructure to the common citizen of India.
    • Asset monetization, based on the philosophy of Creation through Monetization, is aimed at tapping private sector investment for new infrastructure creation.
    • This is necessary for creating employment opportunities, thereby enabling high economic growth and seamlessly integrating the rural and semi-urban areas for overall public welfare.
    • The strategic objective of the programme is to unlock the value of investments in brownfield public sector assets by tapping institutional and long-term patient capital.

    Framework

    The framework for core asset monetization has three key imperatives:

    • The pipeline has been prepared based on inputs and consultations from respective line ministries and departments, along with the assessment of total asset base available therein.
    • Monetization through disinvestment and monetization of non-core assets have not been included in the NMP.
    • Further, currently, only assets of central government line ministries and CPSEs in infrastructure sectors have been included.
    • Process of coordination and collation of asset pipeline from states is currently ongoing and the same is envisaged to be included in due course.

    Estimated Potential

    • The aggregate asset pipeline under NMP over the four-year period, FY 2022-2025, is indicatively valued at Rs 6.0 lakh crore.
    • The estimated value corresponds to ~14% of the proposed outlay for Centre under NIP (Rs 43 lakh crore). This includes more than 12-line ministries and more than 20 asset classes.
    • The sectors included are roads, ports, airports, railways, warehousing, gas & product pipeline, power generation and transmission, mining, telecom, stadium, hospitality and housing.
    • The top 5 sectors (by estimated value) capture ~83% of the aggregate pipeline value. These top 5 sectors include: Roads (27%) followed by Railways (25%), Power (15%), oil & gas pipelines (8%) and Telecom (6%).

    Implementation & Monitoring Mechanism

    • As an overall strategy, significant share of the asset base will remain with the government.
    • The programme is envisaged to be supported through necessary policy and regulatory interventions by the Government in order to ensure an efficient and effective process of asset monetisation.
    • These will include streamlining operational modalities, encouraging investor participation and facilitating commercial efficiency, among others.
    • Real time monitoring will be undertaken through the a separate dashboard.

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  • Account aggregators

    Context

    Account Aggregators will enable the use and enrich the quality of information needed for lenders to extend loans without collateral back-up.

    Issue of preference for a collateralised loan in India

    • Demand for credit in India far outstrips institutional supply.
    • Financial Service Providers (FSPs) are well aware of this demand.
    • And they have been looking for ways to provide credit without collateral back-up.
    • Historically, financial service providers (FSPs) like banks and non-bank finance companies (NBFCs) have relied on collateral while making lending decisions.
    • In the absence of collateral pledges, the only way to assess a consumer’s willingness and ability to repay is by examining the prospective borrower’s cash flows.
    • Your bank account statement is a digital representation of your financial life.
    • However, this bank account statement-driven process is highly manual, time-consuming, expensive and fraught with potential for abuse.
    • These shortcomings have held back cash-flow based lending for too long in India.
    •  Borrowers in the country have been underserved because of the preference for collateralized loans.
    • Both FSPs and consumers are in dire need of a seamless digital way of sharing account information.

    Account Aggregator (AA) framework

    • The account aggregator framework announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) promises to solve these problems.
    • It aims to make financial data sharing as easy as making a Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transfer.
    • This is the promise of account aggregation, as envisaged by RBI.
    • Account aggregators (AAs), with their user interface, will play a pivotal role in closing the trust deficit between FSPs and consumers.

    Fenefits of Account Aggregator would work

    • User control over data: They permit users to control who gets access to their data, track and log its movement and reduce the potential risk of leakage in transit.
    • A single-window format allows user-friendly data movement and reduces the need for physical transfers and post-facto attestations.
    • Industry-standard for consent: AAs create a default industry standard for consent that cuts through the dense fine print buried in most privacy policies.
    • Wider data points to rely on: With the security of this data as a given, AAs allow lenders (or other FSPs for that matter) to rely on a wider selection of data points to determine the trustworthiness of a borrower.
    • Through AAs, FSPs have a chance to provide cash-flow based credit, personalized financial management tools, robo-advisory services and many more innovative financial products and services to a wider cross-section of people.

    Conclusion

    By incorporating security, transparency and agility into data sharing, AAs could usher in the most significant transformation of India’s fintech landscape yet.

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  • AERA Bill, 2021

    In the recent monsoon session, Parliament passed the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

    Key features of the AERA Bill, 2021

    • It seeks to amend the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008.
    • The 2008 Act established the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA).
    • AERA regulates tariffs and other charges (such as airport development fees) for aeronautical services rendered at major airports in India.
    • The 2008 Act designates an airport as a major airport if it has an annual passenger traffic of at least 35 lakh.
    • The central government may also designate any airport as a major airport by a notification.
    • The Bill adds that the central government may group airports and notify the group as a major airport.

    Why has the definition of a major airport been amended?

    • The Amendment has changed the definition of a major airport to include “a group of airports” after the words “any other airport”.
    • The government hopes the move will encourage the development of smaller airports and make bidding for airports with less passenger traffic attractive.
    • It plans to club profitable airports with non-profitable ones and offer them as a package for development in public-private partnership mode to expand connectivity.

    Was there a need to amend the AERA Act?

    • The Airports Authority of India (AAI) awarded six airports — Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mangaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Guwahati — for operations, management and development in public-private partnership mode in February 2019.
    • In 2020 too, the AAI has approved leasing of another six airports — Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Amritsar, Raipur, Indore and Tiruchi.
    • The Ministry of Civil Aviation plans to club each of these airports with nearby smaller airports for joint development.
    • The move follows FM’s Budget Speech this year, in which she said the government planned to monetize airports in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

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