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GS Paper: GS3

  • Risk of Early Locusts Attacks: A new concern

    Locusts normally arrive during July-October but have already been spotted in Rajasthan. At a time India is battling COVID, they present a new worry with their potential for exponential growth and crop destruction.

    Along with being a disaster issue, Locust attack is also a challenge for India’s food security. Discuss what socio – economic and technological ways can be adopted to tackle this menance.

    What exactly are Locusts?

    • The desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) is a short-horned grasshopper that is innocuous while it is in a “solitary phase” and moving about independently.
    • These winged insects differ from normal hoppers and become dangerous only when their populations build up rapidly and the close physical contact in crowded conditions triggers behavioural changes.
    • They, then, enter the “gregarious phase”, by grouping into bands and forming swarms that can travel great distances (up to 150 km daily), while eating up every bit of vegetation on the way.
    • If not controlled at the right time, these insect swarms can threaten the food security of countries.

    How seriously should the first sightings be viewed?

    • The damage potential of locusts has been limited in India only because of the country hosting a single breeding season — unlike Pakistan, Iran and East Africa, where they also multiply during January-June.
    • There’s nothing much to worry right now, as the rabi crop has already been harvested and farmers are yet to commence plantings for the new Kharif season.
    • The locusts’ bands so observed are less populated. But their timing, though, is cause for concern.
    • The normal breeding season for locusts in India is July-October. But this time, they have been sighted by mid-April.
    • Last year, too, they were seen towards end-May as isolated grasshoppers.
    • The longer time to breed is more conducive for a build-up of gregarious insect swarms, as opposed to solitary, innocuous hoppers.

    Control measures in India

    • India has a Locust Control and Research scheme that is being implemented through the Locust Warning Organisation (LWO), established in 1939.
    • It was amalgamated in 1946 with the Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and Storage (PPQS) of the Ministry of Agriculture.
    • The LWO’s responsibility is monitoring and control of the locust situation in Scheduled Desert Areas mainly in Rajasthan and Gujarat, and partly in Punjab and Haryana.
    • The LWO publishes a fortnightly bulletin on the locust situation.

    What kind of damage can they cause?

    • Locusts are polyphagous, i.e. they can feed on a wide variety of crops.
    • Secondly, they have the ability to multiply rapidly. A single female desert locust lays 60-80 eggs thrice during its roughly 90-day life cycle.
    • It is estimated that a 1-square-km area can accommodate 40-80 million of these insects, making the growth of their swarms exponential quite like the Covid-19 virus.

    What is the genesis of the present locust upsurge, particularly in East Africa?

    • It lies in the Mekunu and Luban cyclonic storms of May and October 2018 that struck Oman and Yemen, respectively.
    • These turned large desert areas in remote parts of the southern Arabian Peninsula into lakes, which allowed the insects to breed undetected across multiple generations.
    • The swarms attacking crops in East Africa reached peak populations from November onwards while building up since the start of this year in southern Iran and Pakistan.
    • Widespread rains in East Africa in late March and April have enabled further breeding.
    • Prior to that, the locusts from spring breeding areas of southwest Pakistan and southern Iran would arrive in Rajasthan and Gujarat during May-June.
    • They would, then, breed with the onset of the southwest monsoon rains and continue doing so through the Kharif cropping season.

    What can and should be done?

    • If the monsoon is good, and in the absence of control operations, the magnitude of attack could be worse than in the 2019-20 rabi season.
    • The last year’s locust incursions were the first and most significant since 1993.
    • Local authorities in Rajasthan and Gujarat had to treat over 4.30 lakh hectares of infested areas with sprayers mounted on tractors and other vehicles.

    Pesticides give better control

    • The old generation organophosphate insecticides such as Malathion (96% ultra-low volume aerial application) are effective against locusts.
    • About one litre of the chemical is necessary to treat a hectare of their breeding areas, including trees where they halt for the night.
    • There is ample stock of pesticides to control any swarms in India.

    Click here to read about the complete genesis of Locusts and their origin:

    Locust Invasions and its mitigation

  • What is Urban Ozone?

    A Manchester (UK) based research has found that the nationwide lockdown may be leading to the generation of a dangerous pollutant, urban ozone.

    The Ozone is formed due to different factors in the Troposphere and the Stratosphere (where the ozone acts as a protective layer). Note these differences from prelims perspective.

    Urban Ozone

    • The photochemical production of ozone may become more important in urban areas during summertime in these low conditions of oxides of nitrogen.
    • As nitrogen oxides reduce, photochemical production may become more efficient and can lead to higher ozone concentrations in the summertime.
    • The higher summer temperatures increase emissions of biogenic hydrocarbon from natural sources such as trees. These biogenic hydrocarbons significantly affect urban ozone levels.
    • While ozone is important for screening harmful solar UV radiation when present higher up in the atmosphere, it can be a danger at the Earth’s surface and can react to destroy or alter many biological molecules.

    Back2Basics: Ozone Gas

    • It is a gas that occurs both in the Earth’s upper atmosphere and at ground level.
    • Ozone occurs in two layers of the atmosphere. The layer closest to the Earth’s surface is the troposphere.
    • Here, ground-level or “bad” ozone is an air pollutant that is harmful to breathe and it damages crops, trees and other vegetation. It is the main ingredient of urban smog.
    • The stratospheric or “good” ozone protects life on Earth from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays.

    Formation of Ozone

    • Ozone is produced naturally in the stratosphere when highly energetic solar radiation strikes molecules of oxygen, and cause the two oxygen atoms to split apart in a process called photolysis. If a freed atom collides with another O2, it joins up, forming ozone.
    • The majority of tropospheric ozone formation occurs when nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), react in the atmosphere in the presence of sunlight, specifically the UV spectrum.

  • Mass Hatching of Olive Ridley Turtles begins

    Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtles began at Odisha’s Rushikulya rookery, a major nesting site of these marine turtles.

    Mass hatching of Olive Ridley turtles is a very celebrated news every year. Also make sure to look at the Rivers system in the region from the map above.

    Olive Ridley Turtles

    • The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
    • In the Indian Ocean, the majority of olive ridleys nest in two or three large groups at Rushikulya rookery near Gahirmatha in Odisha.
    • The coast of Odisha in India is the largest mass nesting site for the olive ridley, followed by the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.
    • The species is listed as Vulnerable in the IUCN Red List, Appendix 1 in CITES, and Schedule 1 in Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

    Special feature: Mass nesting

    • They are best known for their behaviour of synchronized nesting in mass numbers, termed Arribadas.
    • Interestingly, females return to the very same beach from where they first hatched, to lay their eggs.
    • They lay their eggs in conical nests about one and a half feet deep which they laboriously dig with their hind flippers.
    • They hatch in 45 to 60 days, depending on the temperature of the sand and atmosphere during the incubation period.

  • Rare Black Panther spotted in Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary

    A rare Black Panther was spotted in the Netravali WLS in South Goa.

    There are many WLS and National Park in the tiny state of Goa. Unlike others, they rarely find any mention in news. Here a quick revision for you.

    Make sure to locate them on map.

    • Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary,

    • Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary,

    • Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary,

    • Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary,

    • Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary,

    • Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary,

    • Anshi National Park.

    Black Panther

    • Black Panther or Black Leopard is a color variant of spotted Indian leopards, reported from densely forested areas of south India, mostly from the state of Karnataka.
    • A black panther is the melanistic colour variant of any Panthera, particularly of the leopard (P. pardus) in Asia and Africa, and the jaguar (P. onca) in the Americas.
    • They are also known as the ghost of the forest.

    About Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary

    • Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary is located in South-Eastern Goa, India.
    • It constitutes one of the vital corridors of the Western Ghats and covers an area of about 211 sq.km.
    • Netravali or Neturli is an important tributary of River Zuari, which originates in the sanctuary.
    • Forests mostly consist of moist deciduous vegetation interspersed with evergreen and semi-evergreen habitat; there are also two all-season waterfalls in the sanctuary.
    • The Gaur or Indian Bison, Malabar giant squirrel, four-horned antelope or chousingha, leopard, black sloth bear along with a host of other predators and herbivores find home in the sanctuary.

  • [pib] Kailash – Mansarovar Yatra Route from Dharchula to Lipulekh

    The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has completed the construction of road from Dharchula to Lipulekh along the China Border, famously known as Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra Route.

    We can expect a prelims question asking to arrange few passes from West to East or vice versa. Click here to get through all such Himalayan Passes.

    Darchula – Lipulekh road

    • The road is an extension of Pithoragarh-Tawaghat-Ghatiabagarh road. In this 80 Km road, the altitude rises from 6000 feet to 17,060 feet.
    • It originates from Ghatiabagarh in Uttarakhand and terminates at Lipulekh Pass, the gateway to Kailash Mansarovar.
    • With the completion of this project, the arduous trek through treacherous high-altitude terrain can now be avoided by the Pilgrims of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the period of journey will be reduced by many days.

    (Note: The Lipulekh Pass links Uttarakhand with China’s Tibetan Autonomous Region.)

    Significance

    • At present, the travel to Kailash Mansarovar takes around two to three weeks through Sikkim or Nepal routes.
    • Lipulekh route had a trek of 90 Km through high altitude terrain and the elderly yartris faced lot of difficulties.
    • Now, this yatra will get completed by vehicles.

    Also read:

    The Northern and Northeastern Mountains | Part 2

    Back2Basics: Border Roads Organisation (BRO)

    • The BRO develops and maintains road networks in India’s border areas and friendly neighboring countries and functions under the Ministry of Defence.
    • It is entrusted for construction of Roads, Bridges, Tunnels, Causeways, Helipads and Airfields along the borders.
    • Officers from the Border Roads Engineering Service (BRES) and personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) form the parent cadre of the Border Roads Organisation.
    • It is also staffed by officers and troops drawn from the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers on extra regimental employment.
    • The BRO operates and maintains over 32,885 kilometers of roads and about 12,200 meters of permanent bridges in the country.

  • Transforming the Military

    The COVID blaze caused economic disruption and now even the military is feeling the heat. The military is grappling with multiple issues like freezing of fresh capital acquisition and delay in procurement. But this could also be considered as an opportunity to transform the Indian military. 4 areas where this transformation could start are discussed in this article. Read to know more.

    The difference in approaches to security

    • Pakistan’s approach: Pakistan stagnates in an existential-threat-based and India-centric approach to national security.
    • What is China’s approach? China’s expansive global strategy and unbridled capability-based development surge have overcome the dangers of direct competition with the US.
    • It has closed the gap through an “indirect approach to international security”.
    • This indirect approach looks at building on strengths in areas such as cyberspace, non-contact warfare, economic and diplomatic coercion.

    So, what should be India’s approach to security?

    • Strategic guidelines for India’s must shift from a threat-based methodology to a multi-disciplinary capability.
    • An outcome-based orientation to fit with the nation’s power aspirations.

    4 most critical means to kick-start the transformation:

    1. Creation of indigenous defence capability

    • Doing this without brushing away the short and medium-term requirement of selective imports will be the key to a calibrated march to self-sufficiency.

    2. Leadership

    • India’s military leadership is very hierarchical and sequential in its approach.
    • However, this same leadership has superb operational skills and possesses a quick understanding of technology, tactics, techniques and procedures.
    • Consequently, strategic leaders need to be identified and their transition towards becoming more than mere executors of operational plans and campaigns needs to be enabled.
    • Multi-disciplinary thinking, lateral assimilation and a world-view are among the specific skill-sets that need to be nurtured.

    3. Training and Education

    • Training and education form the next two silos in the process of transformation.
    • The US example: Several military officers at the colonel level — fresh out of war colleges and the university environment where they spend a year of education (not training) — are posted at the Pentagon and NATO HQ.
    • Here, they work alongside civilians, politicians, lawmakers, not forgetting their own joint leadership.
    • In such an environment, it is not difficult to mark, train and recognise talent in ways that go beyond the mere rank structure.
    • It is high time India goes down that road because even though economic globalisation may be on hold for a while post-COVID-19, there is going to be a flattening of the world from a security perspective.
    • There will be common threats that would need to be fought jointly by nations.
    • The three pre-requisites in these silos will be an amalgam of 1)service-centric and joint operations expertise, 2) operational acumen in a global environment, and 3) broad-based education that develops intellectual capital.
    • Training in the Indian military is top-notch and needs a little tweaking to help officers and men understand the rules of engagement in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) world.
    • It is diversified education at all levels of leadership that is a weak area.

    4. Jointness and integration

    • Finally, the silo of jointness and integration without losing identities and compromising competencies is an outcome that needs to be chased down with focus and determination.

    Consider the question based on the issues discussed in the article “Strategic guidelines for India’s security managers must shift from a threat-based methodology to a multi-disciplinary capability and outcome-based orientation to fit with the nation’s power aspirations. Based on some expert committee reports, discuss the ways which the Indian military follow to achieve the transformation to satisfy the nation’s power aspirations.”

    Conclusion

    Some difficulties caused to the military due to COVID pandemic should be considered as an opportunity. It should be an opportunity to evolve a transformational culture in the Indian military. This should be based on clear political guidelines driven by existing and futuristic capabilities, expected strategic outcomes and anticipated strategic challenges.

     

  • Vizag Gas Leak: What is Styrene Gas?

    A gas leak has claimed at least 11 lives and affected thousands of residents in five villages in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.  The source of the leak was a styrene plant owned by South Korean electronics giant LG.

    Practice question:

    Despite a robust policy framework governing the hazardous chemicals in India, the recent gas leakage incident in Vizag highlights India’s unaddressed vulnerability to chemical disasters. Criticallly comment.

    Vizag gas lead: What is styrene?

    • It is a flammable liquid that is used in the manufacturing of polystyrene plastics, fibreglass, rubber, and latex.
    • Styrene is also found in vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, and in natural foods like fruits and vegetables.
    • According to The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989, styrene is classified as a toxic and hazardous chemical.

    What happens when exposed to styrene?

    • A short-term exposure to the substance can result in respiratory problems, irritation in the eyes, irritation in the mucous membrane, and gastrointestinal issues.
    • And long-term exposure could drastically affect the central nervous system and lead to other related problems like peripheral neuropathy.
    • It is, likely, a carcinogenic substance that can react with oxygen in the air to mutate into styrene dioxide, a substance that is more lethal.
    • However, there is no sufficient evidence despite several epidemiology studies indicating there may be an association between styrene exposure and an increased risk of leukaemia and lymphoma.

    What are the symptoms?

    • Symptoms include headache, hearing loss, fatigue, weakness, difficulty in concentrating etc.
    • Animal studies have reported effects on the nervous system, liver, kidney, and eye and nasal irritation from inhalation exposure to styrene.

    How bad is the situation in Visakhapatnam?

    • It is yet unclear whether the deaths are due to direct exposure to styrene gas or one of its byproducts.
    • However, hundreds of people including many children were admitted to hospitals.
    • The cases are high as the gas leak was only detected at 3 am in the morning, meaning several crucial hours have been lost till safety precautions were taken.
    • More fatally, the gas was leaked while people were fast asleep.

    What caused the leak?

    • Styrene monomer was used at the manufacturing plant to produce expandable plastics.
    • The storage requirement of styrene monomer strictly mentions that it has to be below 17 degrees Celsius.
    • There was a temporary and partial shutdown of the plant because of the nationwide lockdown.
    • The leak occurred as a result of styrene gas not being kept at the appropriate temperature.
    • This caused a pressure build-up in the storage chamber that contained styrene and caused the valve to break, resulting in the gas leakage.

    Is it under control?

    • The leak has been plugged and NDRF teams moved into the five affected villages and have started opening the houses to find out if anyone was stranded inside.
    • The Covid-19 preparedness helped a lot as dozens of ambulances with oxygen cylinders and ventilators were readily available.
    • The spread of the gas depends on wind speeds. So far it is estimated that areas within a five-kilometre radius have been affected.

    What are the guidelines on the storage of hazardous chemicals in plants?

    After the Bhopal disaster, much legislation was enacted starting from the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 to the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991. They are-

    Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 Omnibus act, which gives sweeping powers to Central government to take all measures to protect the environment
    Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986 Set discharge and product standards – source standards for restricting pollution; product standards for manufactured goods and ambient air and water standards – for regulating quality of life and environmental protection
    Hazardous Waste (Management Handling and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 1989 Industry required to identify major accident hazards, take preventive measures and submit a report to the designated authorities
    Manufacture, Storage And Import Of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989 Importer must furnish complete product safety information to the competent authority and must transport imported chemicals in accordance with the amended rules.
    Chemical Accidents (Emergency, Planning, Preparedness and Response) Rules, 1996 Centre is required to constitute a central crisis group for management of chemical accidents; set up quick response mechanism termed as the crisis alert system. Each state is required to set up a crisis group and report on its work.
    Factories Amendment Act, 1987 Provision to regulate siting of hazardous units; safety of workers and nearby residents and mandates for on-site emergency plans and disaster control measures
    Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 Imposes a no-fault liability on the owner of hazardous substance and requires the owner to compensate victims of accident irrespective of any neglect or default. For this, the owner is required to take out an insurance policy covering potential liability from any accident.

     

  • What is African Swine Fever (ASF)?

    • Amid the coronavirus pandemic, another disease outbreak is affecting thousands of animals in Assam.
    • Since February, over 2,900 pigs have died in the state due to African Swine Fever (ASF), which does not affect humans but can be catastrophic for pigs.
    • This is the first time that an ASF outbreak has been reported in India.

    As Flu is nowadays a lot in news, keep a tab on them for prelims. Be it the Swine Flue, African Swine Fever or even H5N1.

    African Swine Fever (ASF)

    • ASF is a severe viral disease that affects wild and domestic pigs typically resulting in an acute hemorrhagic fever.
    • The disease has a case fatality rate (CFR) of about 100 per cent.
    • Its routes of transmission include direct contact with an infected or wild pig (alive or dead), indirect contact through ingestion of contaminated material such as food waste, feed or garbage or through biological vectors such as ticks.
    • The disease is characterized by the sudden deaths of pigs.
    • Other manifestations of the disease include high fever, depression, anorexia, loss of appetite, hemorrhages in the skin, vomiting and diarrhoea among others.

    How did the current outbreak start?

    • As per the latest update issued by FAO, the current outbreak of ASF has affected China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Republic of Korea and Indonesia among others.
    • In China, the first ASF outbreak was confirmed in August 2018 and since then more than 1 million pigs have been culled in the country.
    • ASF came into India through Tibet into Arunachal Pradesh and then into Assam, the state with the highest population of pigs in the country.

    How is ASF different from swine flu?

    • Swine influenza or swine flu is a respiratory disease of pigs, which is caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pig populations.
    • While the swine flu causing virus leads to a high number of infections in pig herds, the disease is not as fatal and causes few deaths. Specific swine influenza vaccines are available for pigs.
    • The swine flu viruses are spread among pigs through close contact and through contaminated objects moving between infected and uninfected pigs.
    • Symptoms include fever, depression, coughing, discharge from the nose and eyes, eye redness or inflammation.

    Vaccines availability

    • As of now, there is no approved vaccine, which is also a reason why animals are culled to prevent the spread of infection.
    • It is important that determination of ASF is made through laboratory testing and it is differentiated from Classical Swine Fever (CSF), whose signs may be similar to ASF, but is caused by a different virus for which a vaccine exists.
    • Even so, while ASF is lethal, it is less infectious than other animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease.

    What is the impact ASF will have on pig farmers?

    • Pig farmers in Assam describe the outbreak as a “double whammy” since the COVID-19 lockdown was already impacting sales negatively.
    • The outbreak has ruined the prospect of the Northeastern states as a hub for the export of pork products.

  • Luhman 16A: A binary brown-dwarf system

    A group of international astrophysicists have identified cloud bands on the surface of Luhman 16A, one of a pair of binary brown dwarfs in the Vela constellation.

    Space terminology has gained importance in prelims. The Luhman 16A coupled with few more examples of space concepts like binary star and dwarf star are discussed in this newscard.

    Luhman 16A

    • Luhman 16 is a binary star system, the third closest system to the Sun after Alpha Centauri and Barnard’s star.
    • At a distance of about 6.5 light-years from the Sun, this pair of brown dwarfs referred to as Luhman 16A and Luhman 16B orbit each other, casting a dim light.
    • Brown dwarfs are also called failed stars because their masses are intermediate to the largest planets and the smallest main sequence stars.
    • Their masses being too small, they are unable to sustain fusion of their hydrogen to produce energy.
    • It is believed that some of the more massive brown dwarfs fuse deuterium or lithium and glow faintly.

    The cloud band over Luhman

    • The group, by using the Very Large Telescope at European Southern Observatory, Chile, found that Luhman 16A had band-like clouds in its atmosphere, whereas the same was not true of Luhman 16B.
    • Many astronomers detected polarization of brown dwarfs.
    • But what is special in the newest study of Luhman 16 is that the researchers have found the actual structure of the clouds — that they form bands over one of the pair.
    • Understanding the cloud system over a brown dwarf can shed light on the pressure, temperature and climate on the surface of the celestial body.

    Why it has made into a headline?

    • The researchers have used an idea put forth nearly two decades ago by Indian astrophysicist Sujan Sengupta, who works at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru.
    • Sengupta had propounded the light emitted by a cloudy brown dwarf, or reflected off an extrasolar planet, will be polarized.
    • He then suggested that a polarimetric technique could serve as a potential tool to probe the environment of these objects.

    Back2Basics: Binary Star System

    • A binary star is a star system consisting of two stars orbiting around their common barycenter.
    • Systems of two or more stars are called multiple star systems.
    • These systems, especially when more distant, often appear to the unaided eye as a single point of light, and are then revealed as multiple by other means.
    • Binary star systems are very important in astrophysics because calculations of their orbits allow the masses of their component stars to be directly determined.

  • [pib] Data on Energy Savings

    The Union Ministry of Power has released a Report on “Impact of energy efficiency measures for the year 2018-19”.

    Things to note:

    1) UJALA Scheme

    2) PAT Scheme

    3) Standards & Labeling Programme

    Possible mains question:

    Q. Discuss the role of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) in “institutionalizing” energy efficiency services in India.

    About the report

    • This report was prepared by an Expert agency PWC Ltd, who was engaged by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).
    • The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance and impact of all the key energy efficiency programmes in India, in terms of total energy saved and the related reduction in CO2 emissions.

    Data on energy savings

    • With our energy efficiency initiatives, we have already reduced the energy intensity of our economy by 20% compared to 2005 levels. This includes both the Supply Side and Demand Side sectors of the economy.
    • The implementation of various energy efficiency schemes has led to total electricity savings to the tune of 113.16 Billion Units in 2018-19, which is 9.39% of the net electricity consumption.
    • Energy savings (electrical + thermal), achieved in the energy-consuming sectors is to the tune of 16.54 Mtoe, which is 2.84% of the net total energy consumption in 2018-19.
    • Overall this has translated into savings worth INR 89,122 crores against last year’s savings of INR 53,627 crore.
    • These efforts have also contributed to reducing 151.74 Million Tonnes of CO2 emissions, whereas last year this number was 108 MTCO2.

    (Note: Mtoe= million Tonne of Oil Equivalent)

    What led to this significant savings?

    • The study has identified the following major programmes, viz. Perform, Achieve and Trade Scheme, Standards &Labelling Programme, UJALA Programme, Municipal Demand Side Management Programme, etc.
    • There is huge capacity still for bringing efficiencies especially in MSME sector and a Housing sector that has now been taken up.

    About the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)

    • The Bureau of Energy Efficiency is an agency under the Ministry of Power created in March 2002 under the provisions of the nation’s 2001 Energy Conservation Act.
    • Its function is to develop programs which will increase the conservation and efficient use of energy in India.
    • The mission of BEE is to “institutionalize” energy efficiency services, enable delivery mechanisms in the country and provide leadership to energy efficiency in all sectors of the country.

    Back2Basics

    1) PAT Scheme

    • Perform Achieve and Trade (PAT) scheme is a flagship programme of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE).
    • NMEEE is one of the eight national missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) launched in the year 2008.
    • The scheme aims to reduce specific energy consumption in energy-intensive industries through certification of excess energy saving which can be traded.
    • It refers to the calculation of Specific Energy Consumption (SEC) in the baseline year and projected SEC in the target year covering different forms of net energy going into the boundary of the designated consumers’ plant and the products leaving it over a particular cycle.
    • Those eight Energy Intensive Sectors included are Chlor-alkali, Pulp & Paper, Textile, Aluminum, and Thermal Power plants, Fertilizer, Iron & Steel and Cement.

    2) Standards & Labeling Programme

    • It is one of the major thrust areas of BEE.
    • A key objective of this scheme is to provide the consumer with an informed choice about the energy-saving and thereby the cost-saving potential of the relevant marketed product.
    • The scheme targets display of energy performance labels on high energy end-use equipment & appliances and lay down minimum energy performance standards.

    3) UJALA Scheme

    • Launched in 2015, the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA), in a short span of time, has emerged as the world’s largest domestic lighting programme.
    • The main objective is to promote efficient lighting, enhance awareness on using efficient equipment which reduces electricity bills and helps preserve the environment.
    • The Electricity Distribution Company and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) a public sector body of the Ministry of Power is implementing the programme.