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GS Paper: GS3

  • Media Access Control (MAC) Binding

    After seven months, the use of social media was allowed in Jammu and Kashmir with an order laying down the latest rules for the use of the Internet in the UT.  Among various conditions, the order says Internet connectivity will be made available “with mac-binding”.

    What is Mac-binding?

    • Every device has a Media Access Control (MAC) address, a hardware identification number that is unique to it. While accessing the Internet, every device is assigned an IP address.
    • Mac-binding essentially means binding together the MAC and IP addresses, so that all requests from that IP address are served only by the computer having that particular MAC address.
    • In effect, it means that if the IP address or the MAC address changes, the device can no longer access the Internet.
    • Also, monitoring authorities can trace the specific system from which a particular online activity was carried out.

    Permitted connections

    • The Internet can be accessed on all postpaid devices, and those using Local Area Networks (LAN).
    • While the postpaid SIM card holders shall continue to be provided access to the Internet, these services shall not be made available on prepaid SIM cards unless verified as per the norms applicable for postpaid connections.
    • Apart from this, special access terminals provided by the government will continue to run.
    • It is further directed that the access/communication facilities provided by the government, viz. e-terminals/Internet kiosks apart from special arrangements for tourists, students, traders etc shall continue.

    Only 2G permitted

    • Internet speed in J&K is still restricted to 2G.
    • This means very slow services — pictures will take a long time to be sent or downloaded, videos will be nearly impossible to share, and there will be a long loading time for most websites.
    • It also means that although in theory, the “whitelist system” — where people could only access some websites pre-approved by the government — has been removed, some sites designed for a 4G Internet experience will hardly work.

    Have curbs been lifted?

    • Not exactly. The latest order is to remain in force till March 17 unless modified earlier.
    • The government has been relaxing Internet and phone usage in the UTs in phases.

  • Unguarded X hypothesis

    Men outnumbered women by 37 million in the 2011 Census of India, but among those over the age of 60, there were more than 1 million more women than men. In general, men live shorter lives than women worldwide. This is due to the chromosomal differences between the two, points’ new study.

    What are Chromosomes?

    • The human body is made up of cells, and in the centre of each cell is the nucleus. Chromosomes, which are located inside the nucleus, are structures that hold the genes.
    • It is the genes that determine the various traits of an individual including eye colour, blood type — and sex.
    • The human cell has 23 pairs of chromosomes. One pair is of the sex chromosomes, named X and Y, which determine whether an individual is male or female.
    • A female has two X chromosomes (XX) while a male has one X and one Y (XY).

    Unguarded X hypothesis

    • This hypothesis suggests that the Y chromosome in XY is less able to to protect an individual from harmful genes expressed on the X chromosome.
    • In a male, as the Y chromosome is smaller than the X chromosome, it is unable to “hide” an X chromosome that carries harmful mutations, which may later expose the individual to health threats.
    • On the other hand, the hypothesis goes, there is no such problem in a pair of X chromosomes (XX) in a female.
    • If one of the X chromosomes has genes that have suffered mutations, then the other X chromosome, which is healthy, can stand in for the first, so that the harmful genes are not expressed.
    • This maximizes the length of life, according to the hypothesis. And this is what the UNSW researchers set out to examine.

    Testing the hypothesis

    • In a statement issued by UNSW, PhD student and study first author Zoe Xirocostas said the
    • Unguarded X hypothesis appears to stack up, after examining the lifespan data available on a wide range of animal species.
    • Researchers studied lifespan data in not just primates but mammals and birds, but also reptiles, fish, amphibians, arachnids, cockroaches, grasshoppers, beetles, butterflies and moths among others.
    • It was found that across that broad range of species, the heterogametic sex (XY in humans) does tend to die earlier than the homogametic sex (XX in humans).

  • Way out lies within

    Context

    Domestic demand must play a greater role in India’s growth story.

    Recovery in the Indian economy

    • Sub-5 per cent growth rate: India’s fourth-quarter GDP growth (the calendar year 2019) printed another sub-5 per cent growth rate.
    • Favourable base effect: It would have been lower had it not been for the large downward revisions to previous years’ GDP that statistically boosted the last quarter’s growth rate because of favourable base effects.
    • The decline in GDP stabilised: Policymakers and the market heaved a sigh of relief that the relentless decline over the last three years at least seems to have stabilised around 4-5 per cent.
    • Why some countries prefer sequential growth rate: Because year-over growth rates are so strongly affected by what happened a year ago, most economies (including China) instead publish and conduct policy discussions based on sequential quarterly growth.
      • Better sense of momentum: Sequential growth rates provide a much better sense of the momentum and turning points in activity, which are critical to deciding whether, how much, and when the economy needs policy support.
    • The magnitude of recovery: The growth momentum rose, albeit modestly, from 3.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2019 to 4.1 per cent.
      • Non-farm and non-governmental GDP recovery: More importantly, non-farm and non-government GDP (the closest approximation to non-farm private-sector GDP) bounced much more sharply from 1.6 per cent (and no this is not a misprint) to 4.4 per cent in the fourth quarter.

    What is the dominant narrative of the slide in growth?

    • The deceleration in sequential terms: With the revised data, we now know that annual growth over the last four years has slowed from 8.3 per cent to 7 per cent to 6.1 per cent to 4-5 per cent.
      • The decline in non-farm private GDP: In sequential terms, the deceleration was far more dramatic, especially in non-farm private GDP, which after hitting a run rate of 13 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 fell to 1.6 per cent by the third quarter of 2019.
      • The dominant narrative of the cause of slide: The dominant narrative is that India’s woes are just an unfortunate and unintended consequence of demonetisation, the shift to a national GST, and the credit squeeze caused by the bad debt in banks and non-banks.
      • The dominant narrative on recovery: With a bit more fiscal support, some monetary easing, and extended regulatory forbearance to help banks work out their bad debts, these headwinds will fade and India will likely be back to its winning ways.

    Why real cause of the slowdown lays somewhere else?

    Following factors suggest that answer lies somewhere else.

    • Disruptive but not the drivers of the slowdown: While it is undeniable that facts stated in the dominant narrative had been disruptive, they couldn’t be the drivers of the decline.
      • Slide in growth started even before demonetisation: India’s growth had been sliding since the second quarter of 2016; nearly 6 months before demonetisation and a year before the GST was introduced.
      • By the third quarter of 2016, non-farm private sector growth had already slid to 3.5 per cent.
      • Bad debt problem predates slowdown: Although bad debt hit the headlines in 2016, the overleverage had already begun to tighten bank lending since 2014.
    • Fall in corporate investment- inexplicable cause: More inexplicable is the argument that falling corporate investment is the main culprit for the slowdown.
      • It is true that corporate investment is no longer running at the heady 17 per cent of GDP of the pre-global financial crisis (GFC) days but at a much more sombre 11-12 per cent.
      • However, this outsized adjustment had already taken place by 2010 and since then, corporate investment has flatlined at current levels.

    The answer lies in globalisation

    It is obvious once one eschews India’s exceptionalism and accepts that it is just another emerging market economy that grew on the coattails of globalisation with the minimal reforms. Globalisation has largely determined India’s fate.

    • Growth in corporate investment and exports: Contrary to a widely held misperception, India is and has been for a long time far more open to the global economy than believed.
      • Rise in corporate investment from 5 to 17%: The limited liberalisation of 1991-92, coupled with the corporate restructuring in the late 1990s, spurred corporate investment to rise from 5-6 per cent of GDP in the early 2000s to 17 per cent of GDP by 2008.
      • Increase in exports: Almost all of this expansion in investment was geared to produce for exports, which grew at an astonishing pace of 18 per cent per year-over-year in this period as global trade expanded at breakneck speed with the entry of China into the WTO in 2001.
      • 12% of GDP to 26% of GDP: Exports as a share of GDP more than doubled from 12 per cent in the early 2000s to over 26 per cent by 2008.
      • Slow growth in private consumption: In contrast, private domestic consumption, which is considered to be India’s great strength, grew only at 6 per cent annually, less than the growth rate of the economy, such that its share in GDP fell from 63 per cent to 56 per cent.
      • The engine of the Indian economy- Export: Since 2012, global trade has floundered and with that so has India’s economy.
      • Indeed, the entire rise and fall of investment, including the quarter-to-quarter twists and turns in it, can be almost fully explained by changes in exports.
      • The Indian economy has long been flying on one engine – exports — and that is now spluttering.

    What are the prospects of taking the economy back to its high growth path

    • Unlikely: So will the nascent recovery strengthen and take the economy back to its high growth path? Unlikely on current policies.
    • COVID-19 factor: In the near term, as in now widely feared, the COVID-19 outbreak could turn into a pandemic, sharply reducing global demand and trade.
      • With that, even expectations of a modest 2019-20 recovery to 5.25 per cent growth are under threat.
    • Backlash against globalisation: Over the longer term, it is unlikely that global trade will return to its pre-Global financial crisis growth rates not only because supply chains have stopped expanding in the absence of any material technology breakthrough, but there is also a growing political backlash against globalisation in the developed market that has led to increased trade barriers.

    Way forward

    • Search for new sources of growth: India too, like other emerging market economies, needs to face up to the reality that it can no longer depend on global trade to be the only growth driver. Instead, it needs to search and find new sources of growth and that starts with recognising and accepting reality.
    • Let domestic demand play a greater role in the economy: Policymakers need to stop thinking about India as a perennially supply-constrained economy focusing almost all policies and reforms to easing these constraints. Instead, it is time to let domestic demand play a greater role in India’s growth story.
    • Policy changes: The above factors mean that India Inc. needs to shift from producing what foreigners want to produce what residents can afford, it also means that policymakers have to reverse policies that have so far forced households to keep increasing savings (for retirement income, children’s education, healthcare, and housing) through a web of financial repression, regulatory distortions, and public spending choices.
      • It means redesigning India’s infrastructure to look more inward and less outward.
      • Reduce out of pocket expenses: Increasing public provisioning of healthcare and education, reforming insurance regulations to reduce out-of-pocket expenses and eliminating financial repression to raise returns on retirement savings.
      • Merely tinkering with macroeconomic policies will not be enough.

     

     

  • The growth challenge

    Context

    The focus in the near future should to increase investments and facilitate credit for funding these productive assets so that India’s potential output growth can steadily rise.

    Growth prospects of India

    • The NSO forecast at 5%: The latest data from the National Statistical Office (NSO) retained India’s economic growth forecast at 5 per cent for the current financial year.
      • Growth has dropped from 6.1 per cent in the previous year.
    • Fall in nominal GDP: More strikingly, nominal GDP growth has decelerated from an average of 11 per cent during 2016-17 to 2018-19 to 7.5 per cent this year.
      • Lower inflation added to the volume slowdown.
      • The value of India’s GDP for FY20 is estimated at around $2.9 trillion.

    Input and output side growth prospects

    • GDP is estimated from both output and demand lenses, using specific economic indicators as proxies for activity in specific sectors.
    • Output side: From the output side, sector-wise estimates were as following-
      • Agriculture sector growth was revised up to 3.7 per cent (up from the 2.8 per cent previously).
      • Agricultural production is expected to improve based on the third advance estimates of the rabi season crops, as well as higher horticulture and allied sector output (livestock, forestry and fishing), which now is significantly larger than conventional food crops.
      • Industrial activity was lowered to 1.5 per cent (from 2.3 per cent earlier).
      • The key concern regarding the continuing slowdown is the increasing weakness in the industrial sector (particularly of manufacturing, whose growth has progressively fallen from 13.1 per cent in FY16 to 5.7 per cent in FY19, and plummeting to 0.9 per cent in FY20).
      • Services output remained largely unchanged at 6.5 per cent.
    • Demand-side: From a demand perspective, the obverse side to the manufacturing slowdown is the even sharper drop in fixed asset investment growth — down sharply from an average 8.5 per cent during FY17 and FY19 to -0.6 per cent in FY20.
      • The causes for this contraction needs to be understood in detail, and we will return to this.

    Private consumption- a significant driver of growth

    • Private consumption at 60% of GDP: The other significant driver of growth in India has been private consumption. For perspective, the share of private consumption had averaged 59-60 per cent during FY16-FY20.
    • Government consumption 10% of GDP: Reflecting the higher spending over the last couple of years, the share of government consumption in GDP has risen from an average of 10.5 per cent of GDP over FY12-17 to almost 12 per cent in FY20, resulting in the share of total consumption above 70 per cent.

    Drop in the share of nominal investment

    • Drop from 39 % to 30 % of GDP: The really remarkable trend, though, as noted above, is the share of nominal investment in GDP progressively dropping from 39 per cent in FY12 to 30 per cent in FY20.
    • Is it a good sign? Part of this is actually good, reflecting higher Capex efficiency.
      • Slowing household consumption: One narrative underlying the contraction in fresh Capex in FY20 was slowing household consumption growth, which, in nominal terms, fell from an average 11.6 per cent during FY16-19 to an estimated 9.1 per cent in FY20.
      • Disproportionate contribution to lower growth: Though the deceleration prima facie does not seem significant enough to result in a broader economic slowdown of the current magnitude, the high share of household consumption has contributed disproportionately to lower growth.
      • Fall in capacity utilisation: A direct fallout of this is that seasonally adjusted capacity utilisation (based on RBI surveys) had shrunk from 73.4 per cent in the first quarter of FY20 to 70.3 per cent in the second quarter, and this is unlikely to have improved materially in the second half of the year.
      • This is one of the reasons for the low levels of fresh investment.

    Reduced flow of credit to the commercial sector

    • Impediment to growth revival: The other cause of the low Capex, more from the supply side, is a much-reduced flow of credit to the commercial sector, and this remains the proximate impediment for growth revival, with signs of risk aversion in lending still strong despite the recent measures by RBI to incentivise credit to productive sectors.
      • Funds from selected sources, over April-January FY20, was only about Rs 9 lakh crore as against Rs 15 lakh crore in the corresponding 10 months of FY19.
    • Bank credit lowest in three months: Growth in bank credit (which is still the largest source of financing) till mid-February 2020 was down to 6.3 per cent — the lowest in three years.
      • Even this is almost wholly driven by retail credit; incremental credit to industry and services over this period was negative.

    Investor confidence and coronavirus factor

    • A bright feature of the economic environment: One bright feature in this economic environment is strong foreign investor confidence in India, reflected in both FPI equity and FDI flows.
      • Many borrowers have used offshore sources to refinance or pay down domestic bank loans and debt.
      • A global risk-off environment might restrict even this channel in the near future.
    • Robust corporate bond issuances: Domestic corporate bond issuances have also remained robust, although the dominant set of borrowers still remain public sector agencies and financial institutions.
    • Coronavirus factor likely to moderate the gains: Monthly economic indicators suggest that the growth deceleration has likely bottomed out in the third quarter.
      • The bet has been on reducing inventories and the consequent production ramp-up to replenish stocks. However, the evidence on this is mixed.
      • The coronavirus effects, both concurrent and lagged, will also moderate some of the emerging positive effects of counter-cyclical policy measures of the past six months.
      • If the outbreak does not abate over the next month or so, the complex supply chains of intermediates sourced from China will run dry and add to the already weak system demand.
    • Growth prospects in the next few weeks: Surveys indicate that both business and consumer confidence, which while improving, remain muted. A growth revival, hence, is likely to be only very modest over the next few quarters.

    Conclusion

    A $5 trillion economy by 2025 is still a worthwhile target and aspirational; coordinated strategies, policies, execution and institutional mechanisms will be needed to move up to a sustained 8 per cent plus growth consistent with achieving the target. The focus in the near future should to increase investments and facilitate credit for funding these productive assets so that India’s potential output growth can steadily rise.

     

  • National Interlinking of Rivers Authority (NIRA)

     

     

    The Central government is working on the establishment of an exclusive body to implement projects for linking rivers.

    National Interlinking of Rivers Authority

    • To be called the NIRA, the proposed body is expected to take up both inter-State and intra-State projects.
    • It will also make arrangements for generating up funds, internally and externally.
    • Headed by Union Minister of Jal Shakti, the panel includes Irrigation or Water Resources Ministers and Secretaries of States.
    • It is being assisted by a Task Force for ILR, which is a committee of experts essentially drawn from the Jal Shakti Ministry, Central Water Commission and the NWDA.

    About National River Linking Project (NRLP)

    • The NRLP formally known as the National Perspective Plan, envisages the transfer of water from water ‘surplus’ basins where there is flooding to water ‘deficit’ basins where there is drought/scarcity, through inter-basin water transfer projects.
    • It is designed to ease water shortages in western and southern India while mitigating the impacts of recurrent floods in the eastern parts of the Ganga basin.
    • Interlinking of rivers was conceived more than 125 years ago by Sir Arthur Cotton, mainly to facilitate trade but it was not implemented then.
    • The proposed NRLP, now comprises 29 canals totalling 9,600 km, will involve the movement of 245 trillion litres of water.
    • If and when implemented, it will be one of the biggest inter-basin water transfer projects in the world.

    ILR Projects in India

    • As of now, six ILR projects — the Ken-Betwa, Damanganga- Pinjal, Par-Tapi-Narmada, Manas-Sankosh-Teesta-Ganga, Mahanadi-Godavari and Godavari-Cauvery (Grand Anicut) — have been under examination of the authorities.
    • The Ken-Betwa ILR is India’s first such project.
    • With regard to the peninsular rivers, the Centre has chosen to focus on the Godavari-Cauvery link than the earlier proposal to link the Mahanadi-Godavari-Krishna-Pennar-Cauvery rivers.

    Issues and Concerns

    Ecological issues

    One of the major concerns is that rivers change their course in 70–100 years and thus once they are linked, future change of course could create huge practical problems for the project.

    Aqua life

    A number of leading environmentalists are of the opinion that the project could be an ecological disaster. There would be a decrease in downstream flows resulting in reduction of fresh water inflows into the seas seriously jeopardizing aquatic life.

    Deforestation

    Creation of canals would need large areas of land resulting in large scale deforestation in certain areas.

    Areas getting submerged

    Possibility of new dams comes with the threat of large otherwise habitable or reserved land getting submerged under water or surface water. Fertile deltas will be under threat, with coastal erosion expected to threaten the land and livelihoods of local economies that support 160 million people.

    Displacement of people

    As large strips of land might have to be converted to canals, a considerable population living in these areas must need to be rehabilitated to new areas.

    Dirtying of clean water

    As the rivers interlink, rivers with dirty water will get connected to rivers with clean water, hence dirtying the clean water.

    Disrupting of ecological flow

    On implementation, water discharge in 23 out of 29 rivers will reduce considerably, they say. The Ganga will see a 24% decrease in flow. Its tributaries Gandak (-68%) and Ghaghara (-55%) will be the worst affected. While the Brahmaputra will see only a 6% loss, its tributaries will see massive flow reductions: Manas (-73%), Sankosh (-72%) and Raidhak (-53%). Changes in water flow and trapping of silt in reservoirs will see a dip in the sediment deposited by rivers.

    Must read:

    https://www.indiawaterportal.org/articles/national-river-linking-project-dream-or-disaster

  • [pib] Biomethanation Process

     

     

    In an all India coordinated project, efforts are on to produce bio-gas for kitchen use and quality manure for fields using bio-methanation of rice straw by anaerobic digestion method. Six domestic level paddy straw-based bio-gas plants have been installed in Punjab for field trials and further study is in progress.

    What is Biomethanation?

    • It is a process by which organic material is microbiologically converted under anaerobic conditions to biogas.
    • Three main physiological groups of microorganisms are involved: fermenting bacteria, organic acid oxidizing bacteria, and methanogenic archaea.
    • Biomethanation has strong potential for the production of energy from organic residues and wastes. It will help to reduce the use of fossil fuels and thus reduce CO(2) emission.

    How it works?

    • Microorganisms degrade organic matter via cascades of biochemical conversions to methane and carbon dioxide.
    • Syntrophic relationships between hydrogen producers (acetogens) and hydrogen scavengers (homoacetogens, hydrogenotrophic methanogens, etc.) are critical to the process.
    • A wide variety of process applications for biomethanation of wastewaters, slurries, and solid waste have been developed.
    • They utilize different reactor types and process conditions (retention times, loading rates, temperatures, etc.) in order to maximize the energy output from the waste and also to decrease retention time and enhance process stability.

  • [pib] Amendment to the Export Policy of APIs and formulations made from these APIs

    The Government has made amendments in the export policy and restricted export of specified APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) and formulations made from these APIs.

    Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs)

    • All drugs are made up of two core components: the API, which is the central ingredient, and the excipients, the substances other than the drug that helps deliver the medication to your system.
    • The API is the part of any drug that produces its effects.
    • Excipients are chemically inactive substances, such as lactose or mineral oil.
    • The quality of APIs has a significant effect on the efficacy and safety of medications.

    The notification covers the following APIs and formulations made from these APIs:

    • Paracetamol
    • Tinidazole
    • Metronidazole
    • Acyclovir
    • Vitamin B1
    • Vitamin B6
    • Vitamin B12
    • Progesterone
    • Chloramphenicol
    • Erythromycin Salts
    • Neomycin
    • Clindamycin Salts
    • Ornidazole

  • Species in news: Swamp Wallaby

     

    Researchers reported that the swamp wallaby, a marsupial related to the kangaroo, is pregnant throughout its adult life. It typically conceives a new embryo days before delivering the newborn from its previous pregnancy.

    Swamp wallaby

    IUCN Status: Least Concerned

    • The swamp wallaby is a small macropod marsupial of eastern Australia. It is likely the only mammal pregnant and lactating all lifelong.
    • Female wallabies and kangaroos have two uteri and two separate ovaries.
    • At the end of a pregnancy in one uterus, a new embryo develops in the other uterus.
    • Kangaroos and wallabies regularly have an embryo in the uterus, a young joey in the pouch, and a third semi-dependent young at foot, still drinking its mother’s milk.

    How it is different from Kangaroo?

    • In kangaroos, the new embryo is conceived a day or two after the previous birth.
    • In the swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor), the new conception happens one or two days before the previous joey is delivered.

    What happens after?

    • As soon as the mature foetus is born and settles in the pouch, the swamp wallaby arrests the development of the new embryo.
    • This is called embryonic diapause, which happens in many animals to pause reproduction until the conditions are right — season, climate, food availability.
    • For wallabies, this is also to ensure that the new one is born only when the pouch is free again.
    • If this did not happen, the swamp wallaby would be birthing new young every 30 days — it has a short gestation period — and its pouch could not support that.

  • Pushing the wrong energy buttons

    Context

    For more than a decade, no major meeting between an Indian Prime Minister and a U.S. President has passed without a ritual reference to India’s promise made in 2008 to purchase American nuclear reactors.

    Issues in the nuclear deal

    • Construction of reactors: During president Trumps visit techno-commercial offer for the construction of six nuclear reactors in India at the earliest date was considered.
    • More expensive: Indeed, it has been clear for years that electricity from American reactors would be more expensive than competing sources of energy.
    • Prone to disasters: Moreover, nuclear reactors can undergo serious accidents, as shown by the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
    • No liability for accidents: Westinghouse has insisted on a prior assurance that India would not hold it responsible for the consequences of a nuclear disaster.
      • Which is effectively an admission that it is unable to guarantee the safety of its reactors.

    Who will be benefited from the deal?

    • The two beneficiaries: The main beneficiaries from India’s import of reactors would be Westinghouse and India’s atomic energy establishment that is struggling to retain its relevance given the rapid growth of renewables.
    • Political implications: Mr Trump has reasons to press for the sale too. His re-election campaign for the U.S. presidential election in November.
      • The election centrally involves the revival of U.S. manufacturing and he has been lobbied by several nuclear reactor vendors, including Westinghouse.
      • Finally, he also has a conflict-of-interest.

    Comparisons with the renewables

    • The total cost of the reactors: The six reactors being offered to India by Westinghouse would cost almost ₹6 lakh crore.
      • If India purchases these reactors, the economic burden will fall upon consumers and taxpayers.
    • Per unit price: In 2013, it was estimated that even after reducing these prices by 30%, to account for lower construction costs in India, the first year tariff for electricity would be about ₹25 per unit.
    • Comparison with solar energy: Recent solar energy bids in India are around ₹3 per unit.
      • Lazard, the Wall Street firm, estimates that wind and solar energy costs have declined by around 70% to 90% in just the last 10 years and may decline further in the future.

    Safety concern with nuclear energy

    • Long term cost in case of disasters: Nuclear power can also impose long-term costs.
      • Chernobyl accident: Large areas continue to be contaminated with radioactive materials from the 1986 Chernobyl accident and thousands of square kilometres remain closed off for human inhabitation.
      • Fukushima accident: Nearly a decade after the 2011 disaster, the Fukushima prefecture retains radioactive hotspots.
      • The cost of clean-up: the cost of clean-up has been variously estimated to range from $200-billion to over $600-billion.
    • No liability towards company: The Fukushima accident was partly caused by weaknesses in the General Electric company’s Mark I nuclear reactor design.
    • But that company paid nothing towards clean-up costs, or as compensation to the victims, due to an indemnity clause in Japanese law.
    • What are the provisions in Indian laws: Westinghouse wants a similar arrangement with India. Although the Indian liability law is heavily skewed towards manufacturers, it still does not completely indemnify them.
      • So nuclear vendors have tried to chip away at the law. Instead of resisting foreign suppliers, the Indian government has tacitly supported this process.

    India’s experience with nuclear energy

    • Starting with the Tarapur 1 and 2 reactors, in Maharashtra, India’s experiences with imported reactors have been poor.
    • The Kudankulam 1 and 2 reactors, in Tamil Nadu, the only ones to have been imported and commissioned in the last decade, have been repeatedly shut down.
    • Producing less than capacity: In 2018-19, these reactors produced just 32% and 38%, respectively, of the electricity they were designed to produce.
    • These difficulties are illustrative of the dismal history of India’s nuclear establishment.
    • Electricity generation stagnant at 3%: In spite of its tall claims, the fraction of electricity generated by nuclear power in India has remained stagnant at about 3% for decades.

    Conclusion

    The above factors indicate that the government should take the rational decision on the adoption of nuclear energy given its cost and the risk involved and the better alternative available in the form of solar and other renewable energies.

     

  • New forces in orbit

    Context

    As it looks at the growing role of the private sector and the effort by nations like the UAE and Luxembourg, Delhi needs to move quickly towards a new model for India’s space activity.

    Growing presence in the outer space

    • Outer space no longer a preserve of a few: When you think of outer space, you think of big powers like the United States, Russia and China.
      • You might also note the collective European effort under the European Space Agency as well as the impressive national space programmes of India and Japan.
      • Strategic or symbol of national pursuit: Space programmes have for long been viewed as either strategic or symbols of national prestige for big countries that are prepared to invest significant resources in the pursuit of a credible presence in outer space.
    • Two small countries challenging the narrative: Two small countries, the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Europe have begun to demonstrate that the outer space need not be the playing ground for big powers alone.
      • Sceptics might think it is pretentious for the UAE with its native population of barely one million and Luxembourg with 600,000 people to think of a place for themselves in space.

    UAE’s presence in the space

    • Reminder for India: The interesting path these two countries have set for themselves in outer space is a reminder that Delhi needs to adapt to the rapidly changing dynamic in outer space.
    • Hope Mars Mission: That size is not a constraint is reflected in the UAE’s plan to launch its Mars mission, “Hope”, later this year in partnership with a range of organisations across the world — including three universities in the US.
      • Japan is scheduled to launch the UAE Mars probe this year.
      • India’s own ISRO is also working with the UAE on its Mars mission.
    • Last year, the first Emirati Astronaut, Hazza al-Mansouri spent more than a week in the US-Russian space station.
    • What are the reasons for the UAE’s space strategy? It is about cornering a slice of the rapidly growing commercial space industry — part of a major effort to diversify the UAE economy away from its reliance on hydrocarbons.

    How Luxembourg is increasing its presence in the outer space

    • Commercial space as a major opportunity: Over the years, Luxembourg moved away from its past reliance on the steel industry to become a centre of European banking and finance.
      • It is now looking at commercial space as a major opportunity.
    • Regulatory steps: Luxembourg has taken a number of regulatory steps to create a vibrant ecosystem for space companies ranging from satellite operations to future extraction of resources from asteroids and other space objects.
    • Expansion of the space sector: At the moment, the space sector accounts for nearly 2 per cent of Luxembourg’s GDP.
      • There are more than 50 companies and two public research organisations that are driving the expansion of space sector in Luxembourg.
      • It entered the space sector only in the middle of the last decade. It is also driven by the need for economic diversification.
    • Leveraging new ideas: UAE and Luxembourg do have a reputation for leveraging new ideas to transcend the limitations of their size in the world.
      • But their space adventure was not possible without the structural changes that are reshaping the global space activity.

    How space industry underwent a change over the years

    • Preserve of national programs: Through the second half of the 20th century, outer space was the sole preserve of national space programmes driven by government-funding, direction and management.
    • The emergence of the private sector: As military uses of space and prestige projects like Moon-landing emerged, major private sector entities already in the aviation industry like Boeing and Lockheed won space contracts in the US.
      • Collaboration with government: The Pentagon and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) told these companies what to do.
    • Expansion: The last decades of the 20th century saw significant expansion of satellite-based telecommunication, navigation, broadcasting and mapping, and lent a significant commercial dimension to the space sector.
      • As the digital revolution in the 21st century transformed the world economy, the commercial space sector has begun to grow in leaps and bounds.
      • The global space business is now estimated to be around $ 400 billion and is expected to easily rise to at least trillion dollars by 2040.
    • Rise of SpaceX: One example of the rise of private sector companies in the space sector is SpaceX run by the US entrepreneur Elon Musk.
      • Hired for a resupply mission for the space station, it now launches more rockets every year than NASA.
      • The entry of the private sector has begun to drive down the cost-per-launch through innovations such as reusable rockets.

    Scope of the expansion of the space industry

    • Decrease in launch cost and rise in ambition: As launch costs came down, the private sector has become more ambitious.
      • Internet through space: SpaceX plans to launch hundreds of satellites into the low-earth orbit to provide internet services. Amazon has plans to build a network of more than 3,000 satellites in the low-earth orbit.
      • Space tourism: Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have plans to develop space tourism and build human settlements on the Moon and on Mars.
      • Small private companies in the fray: It is not just big companies that are aiming for the Moon. Last year, a private company in Israel sent a lunar lander to the Moon. Although the lander crashed, much like India’s Vikram, the private sector has begun to do things that were once the monopoly of national agencies.

    India not in synch with the global changes

    • Not adapting to the change: India, however, is quite some distance away from adapting to the unfolding changes in the global space business.
      • In its early years, India’s space programme that was constrained by lack of resources found innovative ways of getting ahead in space.
    • Space sector dominated by the government: Although the ISRO encourages private sector participation in the national space programme, its model is still very 20th century — in terms of governmental domination.

    Conclusion

    As it looks at the growing role of the private sector and the effort by nations like the UAE and Luxembourg, India needs to move quickly towards a new model for India’s space activity. It needs a regulatory environment that encourages a more dynamic role for the private sector and promotes innovation.