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GS Paper: GS3

  • 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.

  • Why the dairy sector needs more private players

    One of India’s largest dairy cooperative societies has just raised its milk prices for consumers by Rs 2/litre and this has become national news.

    Sparking off a debate

    • Many in the media are debating how this will push up Consumer Price Index causing inflationary pressures, which may soon force the RBI to change its “accommodative stance” on monetary policy.

    Why such hues over Milk?

    Milk is an important case study for our overall agriculture sector.

    • First, milk is our biggest agri-commodity in terms of value, greater than paddy (rice), wheat, and sugarcane combined.
    • Second, India is the largest producer of milk in the world with an estimated production of about 208 million tonnes in 2020-21, way above its closest competitor, the US, whose milk production hovers around 100 million tonnes.
    • Third, our dairy sector is dominated by smallholders with an average herd size of 4-5 animals.
    • Fourth, and this is important, there is no minimum support price (MSP) for milk. It is more like a contract between the company and the farmers.

    How is the milk price determined?

    • The price of milk is largely determined by the overall forces of demand and supply.
    • Increasing costs of production enter through the supply side, but the demand side cannot be ignored.
    • As a result of all this, the overall growth in the dairy sector for the last 20 years has been between 4-5 per cent per annum, and lately, it has accelerated to even 6 per cent.

    Concerns of dairy farmers

    • For dairy farmers, this increase in milk prices is not commensurate to the increase in their feed and other costs, and they feel that their margins are getting squeezed.
    • They also feel that this price still does not count their logistics cost.

    Transformation since Op Flood

    • It is well known that “Operation Flood” (OF) that started in the 1970s transformed this sector.
    • The institutional innovation of a cooperative model, steered by Verghese Kurien, changed the structure of this sector.
    • However, even after five decades, cooperatives processed only 10 per cent of the overall milk production.
    • India needed the double-engine force of the organised private sector to process another 10 per cent.
    • The doors for the private sector were opened partially with the 1991 reforms, but fully in 2002-03 under the leadership of Vajpayee, when the dairy sector was completely de-licenced.

    Rise of dairypreneurs

    • Many start-ups “dairypreneurs” have come in promising a farm-to-home experience of milk.
    • There is one company that delivers fresh milk at the consumer’s doorstep and gives quality testing kits at home.
    • These have digitized cattle health, milk production, milk procurement, milk testing, and cold chain management.

    Effective breeding

    • Sexed semen technology helps in predetermining the sex of offspring by sorting X and Y chromosomes from the natural sperm mix.
    • This can solve the problem of unwanted bulls on Indian roads.
    • Although the current cost of sexed sorted semen is high, Maharashtra has taken a bold step in subsidizing it for artificial insemination.

    Way forward

    • The upshot of all this is that let prices be determined by market forces, with marginal support from the government or cooperatives in times of extreme.
    • The major focus should be on innovations to cut down costs, raise productivity, ensure food safety, and be globally competitive.
    • That will help both farmers and consumers alike.
    • The cooperatives did a great job during OF, and are still doing that, but the private sector entering this sector in a big way has opened the gates of creativity and competition.

  • Black Hole swallows Neutron Star

    In an entirely strange phenomenon, astronomers have spotted two neutron stars being swallowed by different black holes.

    What are Black Holes?

    • A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing—no particles or even electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from it.
    • Neutron stars and black holes are among the most extreme objects in the universe. They are the fossil relics of massive dead stars.
    • When a star that is more than eight times as massive as the Sun runs out of fuel, it undergoes a spectacular explosion called a supernova.
    • What remains can be a neutron star or a black hole.

    There is no upper limit to how massive a black hole can be, but all black holes have two things in common: a point of no return at their surface called an “event horizon”, from which not even light can escape and a point at their centre called a “singularity”, at which the laws of physics as we understand them break down.

    What about Neutron stars?

    • Neutron stars are typically between 1.5 and two times as massive as the Sun but are so dense that all their mass is packed into an object the size of a city.
    • At this density, atoms can no longer sustain their structure and dissolve into a stream of free quarks and gluons: the building blocks of protons and neutrons.

    What is the news observation?

    • Gravitational waves are produced when celestial objects collide and the ensuing energy creates ripples in the fabric of space-time which carry all the way to detectors on Earth.
    • The reverberations from the two celestial objects were picked up using a global network of gravitational wave detectors.

    What makes this strange phenomenon?

    • This is the first time scientists have seen gravitational waves from a neutron star and a black hole.
    • Previous gravitational wave detections have spotted black holes colliding, and neutron stars merging but not one of each.

    Why study this?

    • Neutron star-black hole systems allow us to piece together the evolutionary history of stars.
    • Gravitational-wave astronomers are like stellar fossil-hunters, using the relics of exploded stars to understand how massive stars form, live and die.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.“Event Horizon” is related to (CSP 2018):

    (a) Telescope

    (b) Black hole

    (c) Solar glares

    (d) None of the above

  • [pib] Project BOLD

    The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has launched the unique Project Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought (BOLD) in Rajasthan.

    Project BOLD

    • Project BOLD seeks to create bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones.
    • It is a unique scientific exercise serving the combined national objectives of reducing desertification and providing livelihood and multi-disciplinary rural industry support.
    • 5000 saplings of special bamboo species: Bambusa-Tulda and Bambusa-Polymorpha specially brought from Assam – have been planted over 25 bigha (16 acres approx) of vacant arid Gram Panchayat land.
    • KVIC has thus created a world record of planting the highest number of bamboo saplings on a single day at one location.

    Why Bamboo?

    • KVIC has judiciously chosen bamboo for developing green patches.
    • Bamboos grow very fast and in about three years’ time, they could be harvested.
    • Bamboos are also known for conserving water and reducing evaporation of water from the land surface, which is an important feature in arid and drought-prone regions.

    Significance of the move

    • The project will help in reducing the land degradation percentage of the country, while on the other hand, they will be havens of sustainable development and food security.
    • The bamboo plantation program will boost self-employment in the region.
    • It will benefit a large number of women and unemployed youths in the region by connecting them to skill development programs.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q. Consider the following statements:

    1. As per recent amendment to the Indian Forest Act, 1927, forest dwellers have the right to fell the bamboos grown on forest areas.
    2. As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, bamboo is a minor forest produce.
    3. The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 allows ownership of minor forest produce to forest dwellers.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (CSP 2019)

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 and 3 only

    (c) 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

    Back2Basics: Bamboo in India

    • Bamboos are tall treelike grasses.
    • With an amendment in 2017 in the Indian Forest Act 1927, the Bamboo has ceased to be a tree anymore.
    • Earlier, the definition of tree in the law included palm, bamboo, brushwood and cane.
    • The move aims to promote cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas to achieve the “twin objectives” of increasing the income of farmers and also increasing the green cover of the country.
    • Bamboo grown in the forest areas would continue to be governed by the provisions of the Indian Forest Act.

  • Failure to comply with international judicial rulings hurts India’s image as an investment destination

    The article highlights the lack of immediate compliance by the Indian government in awards involving foreign investors.

    Why honouring award is important

    • An important factor that propels investors to invest in foreign lands is that the host state will honour contracts and enforce awards even when it loses.
    • But when the host state refuses to do so, it shakes investors’ confidence in the host state’s credibility towards the rule of law, and escalates the regulatory risk enormously.
    • To an extent, this has been India’s story over the last few years
    • Last year, India lost two high-profile bilateral investment treaty (BIT) disputes to two leading global corporations — Vodafone and Cairn Energy — on retrospective taxation.
    •  India has challenged both the awards at the courts of the seat of arbitration.
    • As India drags its feet on the issue of compliance, it harms India’s reputation in dealing with foreign investors.

    Antrix-Devas agreement cancellation dispute

    • The other set of high-profile BIT disputes involve the cancellation of an agreement between Antrix, a commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation, and Devas Multimedia.
    • This annulment led to three legal disputes — a commercial arbitration between Antrix and Devas Multimedia at the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), and two BIT arbitrations brought by the Mauritius investors and German investors.
    • India lost all three disputes. 
    • The ICC arbitration tribunal ordered Antrix to pay $1.2 billion to Devas after a U.S. court confirmed the award earlier this year.
    • After the ICC award, Indian agencies started investigating Devas accusing it of corruption and fraud.
    • Last month, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered the liquidation of Devas on the ground that the affairs of the company were being carried on fraudulently.
    • This has led to Devas issuing a notice of intention to initiate a new BIT arbitration against India, sowing the seeds for complex legal battles again.

    Implications for investment in India

    • A closer reading of these cases reveals that whenever India loses a case to a foreign investor, immediate compliance rarely happens.
    • Instead, efforts are made to delay the compliance as much as possible.
    • While these efforts may be legal, it sends out a deleterious message to foreign investors.
    • It shows a recalcitrant attitude towards adverse judicial rulings.
    • This may not help India in attracting global corporations to its shores to ‘make for the world’.

    Consider the question “What are the factors that are leading to more Indian business disputes being settled elsewhere? What are the implications of delay by the government in honouring the awards of the disputes?” 

    Conclusion

    As India aspire to be the global destination of FDI, it needs to burnish its image on the dispute resolution front by honouring the awards.

  • Four years of GST Regime

    The Prime Minister has lauded Goods and Services Taxes (GST) on its completion of 4 years and said it has been a milestone in the economic landscape of India.

    What is GST?

    • GST is an indirect tax that has replaced many indirect taxes in India such as excise duty, VAT, services tax, etc.
    • The Goods and Service Tax Act was passed in Parliament on 29th March 2017 and came into effect on 1st July 2017. It is a single domestic indirect tax law for the entire country.
    • It is a comprehensive, multi-stage, destination-based tax that is levied on every value addition.
    • Under the GST regime, the tax is levied at every point of sale. In the case of intra-state sales, Central GST and State GST are charged. All the inter-state sales are chargeable to the Integrated GST.

    Answer this PYQ in the comment box:

    Q.All revenues received by the Union. Government by way of taxes and other receipts for the conduct of Government business are credited to the (CSP 2015):

    (a) Contingency Fund of India

    (b) Public Account

    (c) Consolidated Fund of India

    (d) Deposits and Advances Fund

    What are the components of GST?

    There are three taxes applicable under this system:

    1. CGST: It is the tax collected by the Central Government on an intra-state sale (e.g., a transaction happening within Maharashtra)
    2. SGST: It is the tax collected by the state government on an intra-state sale (e.g., a transaction happening within Maharashtra)
    3. IGST: It is a tax collected by the Central Government for an inter-state sale (e.g., Maharashtra to Tamil Nadu)

    Advantages Of GST

    • GST has mainly removed the cascading effect on the sale of goods and services.
    • Removal of the cascading effect has impacted the cost of goods.
    • Since the GST regime eliminates the tax on tax, the cost of goods decreases.
    • Also, GST is mainly technologically driven.
    • All the activities like registration, return filing, application for refund and response to notice needs to be done online on the GST portal, which accelerates the processes.

    Issues with GST

    • High operational cost
    • GST has given rise to complexity for many business owners across the nation.
    • GST has received criticism for being called a ‘Disability Tax’ as it now taxes articles such as braille paper, wheelchairs, hearing aid etc.
    • Petrol is not under GST, which goes against the ideals of the unification of commodities.

  • Middle income trap

    The article suggests focusing on improving productivity and thereby the manufacturing sector to avoid the middle-income trap.

    What is the middle-income trap and why it matters for India

    • This trap was first conceived by World Bank economists.
    • They found that of the 101 developing economies that could be classified as ‘middle income’ in 1960, only 13 managed to become rich nations by 2008. 
    • There is little consensus on why some countries succeed in making the transition to high-income status.
    • But a distinctive attribute of those that succeed in the transition to high income is productivity improvement.
    • India could use its demographic dividend to avoid this predicament and achieve the critical velocity needed to move into the high-income bracket.

    How can India avoid the middle-income trap

    1) Improve productivity

    • Re-allocation of labour from low-productivity agriculture to high-productivity sectors, such as manufacturing, has been a primary channel through which today’s advanced economies raised their living standards.
    • In India, growth in labour productivity has consistently declined over the past decade.
    • The annual growth rate of output per worker has dipped from 7.9% in 2010 to 3.5% in 2019, as per International Labour Organization estimates.
    • This was also a period of low growth in India’s manufacturing sector.
    • In 2020-21, it accounted for only 14.5% of India’s gross value added, down from 17.4% in 2011-12.
    • An essential first step in improving productivity would be strengthening this sector.

    2) Strengthen manufacturing sector

    • Industrial labour relations is among the most critical elements to revitalize India’s manufacturing sector especially in the context of labour productivity.
    • These labour laws created incentives for firms to remain small and uncompetitive, thereby affecting productivity.
    • The new code, once implemented, would increase the threshold relating to layoffs and retrenchment in industrial establishments to 300 workers.
    • Other countries, such as China, Vietnam and Bangladesh, with whom India competes for foreign investment and export markets do not require the approval of administrative or judicial bodies for dismissals.
    • Therefore, in spite of recent reforms, India’s labour laws stay rigid in comparison with those of its competitor countries.

    3) Technology intensive manufacturing

    • Engendering innovation in higher value-added, tech-intensive activities is important for economies before they reach that juncture.
    • If exports are taken as a proxy for the manufacturing capabilities and competitiveness of an economy, the present status of tech-intensive manufacturing in India leaves a lot to be desired.
    • As per World Bank data, high-tech exports accounted for only 10.3% of India’s manufacturing exports in 2019.
    • Rival countries had a much higher share of the same: 31% in China, 13% in Brazil, 40% in Vietnam and 24% in Thailand.
    • Low R&D spending in India, ranging from a mere 0.64% to 0.86% of gross domestic product over the past two decades, has held the country back.

    Steps to improve tech-intensive manufacturing

    • The government has introduced a production-linked incentive scheme to ensure a greater share of local value addition.
    • While this would attract foreign investments in tech-intensive manufacturing, there is also a need for greater incentives for R&D investments by firms in India.
    • A first step in this direction could be reinstating the tax exemption on R&D under Section 35 (2AB), even for companies opting for the lower corporate tax rate of 22%.

    Conclusion

    We need appropriate interventions to improve productivity—both economy-wide and within the sector. And we must do it now.

  • Rooftop rainwater harvesting for India’s water stress

    India’s rapid urban growth is expected to stress its already crumbling base of public service arrangements — especially its management of water and sanitation services, whose safe and reliable availability proved to be the first line of defence against this covid pandemic.

    Q.Discuss how Rooftop rainwater harvesting can ease India’s water woes? (150W)

    Rooftop Rain Water Harvesting

    • It is the technique through which rainwater is captured from the roof catchments and stored in reservoirs.
    • Harvested rainwater can be stored in sub-surface groundwater reservoirs by adopting artificial recharge techniques to meet the household needs through storage in tanks.
    • Capturing and storing rainwater for use is particularly important in dryland, hilly, urban and coastal areas.
    • It holds the potential to support the country’s preparedness against the incipient challenges of changing climate.

    Water stress in India

    • An appalling confusion grips our policy makers and planners.
    • While the supply-demand gap is expected to widen by 50 per cent by 2030, many are still left without access to safe and sustainable water and sanitation services.
    • At least five Indian cities are already reported to have joined the list of world’s 20 largest water-stressed cities.

    If we look at the present portfolio of water resources management for other cities, it will not be wrong to claim that many more will soon become qualified for joining this infamous list.

    Exploring the complex problems

    • Water availability in India remains at the mercy of erratic patterns of precipitation.
    • Concretization of urban landscapes, symbolic of modern town planning imaginaries as to what an exercise in urban development has led to floods worsening.
    • Illegal encroachment along stormwater drains and urban rivers also aggravates the situation, not least by opening up spaces of active political contestation and negotiations.

    A paradigm shift needed

    • In India, management of water was bundled as part of the prerogative claims of post-independent public institutions with public participation programs designed later on to serve only a placatory function.
    • This has led to the systematic exclusion of the public’s opinions in informing the design and implementation protocols of large public schemes.
    • It took the form of multi-purpose dams, irrigation canals, public water distribution systems, etc.
    • Despite this, India has now become a ‘water-stressed country.

    A newer approach

    • Rising national empathy for river rejuvenation, watershed conservation and active public participation has, on the other hand, already started scripting a new paradigm for India’s water management.
    • It prompts decision-makers to look for solutions in the collective efforts of the citizens in managing their issues locally.

    Right from the vedic times

    • Our Vedic ancestors, in their appreciation of the timeless bounty of water, always offered timely obeisance to water’s eternal gifts to mankind.
    • Their reverence to water can be found in the hymns and prayers offered to Varuna and Indra — Vedic Gods associated with water to riveting architectural gems and literary delights, each underscoring the centrality of water in our cultural revelries.
    • It is time our policies are re-designed to reflect these values.

    Empowering people

    • Rooftop rainwater structures are perfectly poised to engender a transformative wave of public engagement in water management.
    • Thus it can act as a corollary for making water management an exercise in nurturing democratic routines.
    • To ensure that the public enthusiastically purchases this concept, a country-wide behaviour change campaign can be launched along the lines of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
    • This can emphasize people’s ‘ability and ‘motivation’ to romantically welcome these structures in their private premises.
    • This should rather be a ‘do-it-yourself’ model of engagement.