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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    Brain drain of India’s health worker

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The article highlights the issue of shortage of healthcare workers in India even as it exports its healthcare workers to other countries.

    India as an exporter of healthcare workers

    • For several decades, India has been a major exporter of healthcare workers to developed nations particularly to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Europe and other English-speaking countries.
    • As per OECD data, around 69,000 Indian trained doctors worked in the UK, US, Canada and Australia in 2017.
    • In these four countries, 56,000 Indian-trained nurses were working in the same year.
    • There is also large-scale migration of health workers to the GCC countries but there is a lack of credible data on the stock of such workers in these nations.
    • There is no real-time data on high-skilled migration from India as in the case of low-skilled and semi-skilled migration.

    Shortage of nurses and doctors

    • The migration of healthcare workers is part of the reason for the shortage in nurses and doctors.
    • If we look at the figures for countries where we export our healthcare workers, we see just how big the difference is between the sending and the receiving countries.
    • As per government reports, India has 1.7 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,404.
    • This is well below the WHO norm of 3 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,100.
    • But, this does not convey the entire problem.
    • The distribution of doctors and nurses is heavily skewed against some regions.
    • Moreover, there is high concentration in some urban pockets.

    Factors driving migration

    • There are strong pull factors associated with the migration of healthcare workers, in terms of higher pay and better opportunities in the destination countries.
    • However, there are strong push factors that often drive these workers to migrate abroad.
    • The low wages in private sector outfits along with reduced opportunities in the public sector plays a big role in them seeking employment opportunities outside the country.
    • The lack of government investment in healthcare and delayed appointments to public health institutions act as a catalyst for such migration.

    Measures to check brain drain and issues with it

    • Over the years, the government has taken measures to check the brain drain of healthcare workers with little or no success.
    • In 2014, it stopped issuing No Objection to Return to India (NORI) certificates to doctors migrating to the US.
    • The NORI certificate is a US government requirement for doctors who migrate to America on a J1 visa and seek to extend their stay beyond three years.
    • The non-issuance of the NORI would ensure that the doctors will have to return to India at the end of the three-year period.
    • The government has included nurses in the Emigration Check Required (ECR) category.
    • This move was taken to bring about transparency in nursing recruitment and reduce the exploitation of nurses in the destination countries.
    • The government’s policies to check brain drain are restrictive in nature and do not give us a real long-term solution to the problem.

    Way forward

    • We require systematic changes that could range from increased investment in health infrastructure, ensuring decent pay to workers and building an overall environment to motivate them to stay in the country.
    • The government should focus on framing policies that promote circular migration and return migration — policies that incentivise healthcare workers to return home after the completion of their training or studies.
    •  It could also work towards framing bilateral agreements that could help shape a policy of “brain-share” between the sending and receiving countries.
    • The 2020 Human Development Report shows that India has five hospital beds per 10,000 people — one of the lowest in the world.
    • Increased investment in healthcare, especially in the public sector, is thus the need of the hour.
    • This would, in turn, increase employment opportunities for health workers.

    Consider the question “What are the factors driving the migration of healthcare workers from India? Suggest the measure to stem their migration.”

    Conclusion

    India needs systematic changes that could range from increased investment in health infrastructure, ensuring decent pay to health workers and building an overall environment that could prove to be beneficial for them and motivate them to stay in the country.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-China

    The costs of relying on China to become more apparent to India’s neighbours

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    The article explains the implications of China’s assertive foreign policy for India’s neighbours.

    Chinese warning to Bangladesh

    • The Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh warned Bangladesh against joining the Quad and added that it will risk “significant damage” to its relationship with Beijing if it warms up to the Quad.
    • This came as a surprise as China was warning Bangladesh against joining a club that has no plans to invite new members, let alone Bangladesh.
    • China always used tough language when it came to issues of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
    • The aggressive style now covers a much broader range of issues.
    • Beijing is conscious that Bangladesh’s impressive economic performance in recent years as well as its location at the top of the Bay of Bengal littoral lends a new strategic salience to Bangladesh.
    • China notes India’s growing diplomatic investment in developing a strategic partnership with Bangladesh.
    • China is also not blind to the emerging interest in US and Japan to expand cooperation with Dhaka.
    • Bangladesh, which supports China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is open to similar infrastructure cooperation with the US, Japan and India.

    China’s wolf worrier diplomacy

    • The new wolf warrior diplomacy confronts head-on any criticism of China in the public sphere.
    • India has been at the receiving end of this policy for a while — especially during the recent crises of Doklam and Ladakh.
    • But India’s South Asian neighbours, all of whom enjoy good relations with China, are only now getting a taste of Beijing’s new diplomatic medicine.
    • Chinese Ambassador’s public remarks about the Quad were about telling Bangladesh to resist any Indo-Pacific temptation.
    • Pre-emption is very much part of Beijing’s strategic culture.

    What such assertive diplomacy mean for South Asia

    • Delhi has learnt after long that too much diplomatic interference in the Subcontinent has tended to undermine the pursuit of India’s regional objectives.
    • China, as the world’s newest superpower, probably bets that its substantive leverages — including economic, diplomatic, and military — will limit the costs while deterring smaller nations from crossing the markers that it lays down.
    • South Asian elites have always seethed at India meddling in their internal affairs; they have held up China’s non-interventionist policy as a welcome alternative.
    • The controversy in Bangladesh over China’s remark on joining Quad should help update their past images of Beijing
    • India is now more circumspect than before about interventions in the region.
    • It recognises that avoiding knee-jerk interventions is a sensible policy.
    • Our neighbours have always complained about India’s inefficiency in implementing economic projects and contrasted this with China’s speed and purposefulness.
    • But they are also discovering the flip side of Chinese economic efficiency — the capacity to set and implement terms of cooperation that are not always in favour of the host nation.
    • All the regimes in the region have had access to different sections of the Indian elite and some capacity to shape the discourse on neighbourhood policies.
    • They have no political recourse at all in China’s closed political system.

    Consider the question “As Beijing becomes ever more assertive in South Asia, the costs of relying on China are likely to become more apparent to South Asia’s smaller nations. Comment.”

    Conclusion

    Until now, Chinese support against India seemed free of cost. As Beijing becomes ever more assertive in South Asia, the costs of relying on China are likely to become more apparent.

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  • Need for West Asia’s diplomatic resets

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    The article highlights the unprecedented engagement among the countries of West Asia even among the rivals and explains its significance.

    New diplomatic engagements in West Asia

    • Recently, there have been interactions between senior Saudi and Iranian officials, the first since diplomatic ties were broken in January 2016.
    • Following the removal of the diplomatic and economic blockade on Qatar that was imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, Doha has made efforts to mend ties with both Saudi Arabia and Egypt, in tandem with similar initiatives of its doctrinal and political ally, Turkey.
    • On May 5, Turkey and Egypt had their first diplomatic meeting in Cairo after they had broken diplomatic ties in 2013.
    • The two countries, on opposite sides on almost all regional issues, are now exploring how to address their differences.

    Driving force behind these engagements

    • The driving force behind these unprecedented engagements is the advent of the Biden administration at the helm of politics in the United States.
    • He has taken a tough line on Saudi Arabia, scrutinising its human rights record and opposition to the war in Yemen.
    • Besides concerns in West Asian capitals, the broader message is that the U.S. is now likely to be less engaged with the region’s quarrels.
    • These signals of new U.S. policies have occurred even as the novel coronavirus pandemic is devastating West Asia.
    • Finally, one major factor is the recognition that the ongoing regional conflicts, in Syria, Yemen and Libya, despite the massive death and destruction, have yielded no military outcome and now demand fresh diplomatic approaches.

    Long way to go in resolving differences

    • Egypt remains uneasy about Turkey’s ties with the Brotherhood and its regional ambitions.
    • Saudi Arabia has similar concerns about Turkey’s doctrinal affiliations and its relations with Iran.
    • There are difficulties in reshaping Saudi-Iran relations as well.
    • Iran may ease the pressure on the kingdom in Yemen and gradually yield ground in Iraq.
    • However, Syria will test their diplomatic skills as they explore how to accommodate their competing strategic interests in that devastated country.

    Historic period for West Asian diplomacy

    • This is truly a historic period for West Asian diplomacy.
    • The major states are displaying unprecedented self-confidence in pursuing initiatives without the involvement of western powers that have dominated regional affairs for at least a couple of centuries.
    • This has left a pervasive sense of insecurity across West Asia and made the countries dependent on western alliances to ensure their interests.
    • This has left a pervasive sense of insecurity across West Asia and made the countries dependent on western alliances to ensure their interests.

    Role for India

    • Given that regional contentions are inter-connected, third-party facilitators will be needed to promote mutual confidence and prepare the ground for a comprehensive regional security arrangement.
    • This will bring together regional and external states with a stake in West Asia security.
    • This arrangement will have provisions for participating states to uphold regional peace and promote mutually beneficial cooperation in energy, economic and logistical connectivity areas.
    • Given its close ties with all the regional states, India is well-placed to build an association of like-minded states — Japan, Russia, South Korea — to shape and pursue such an initiative for West Asian peace.

    Conclusion

    These new diplomatic engagements with erstwhile rivals could in time overturn existing regional alignments and possibly end ongoing conflicts.

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  • Intellectual Property Rights in India

    India should walk the talk on TRIPS waiver

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Intellectual Property Rights

    The article highlights the variance in India’s stand on intellectual property rights waiver for Covid related drugs on the international level and domestic level. 

    Removing the IPR barrier

    • When the pandemic hit the globe, India and South Africa piloted the proposal to waive key provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement on COVID-19 vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, and related technologies.
    • The core idea is that IPRs such as patents should not become barriers in scaling up production of medical products essential to combat COVID-19.
    • The TRIPS waiver proposal, now backed by the U.S. would give immunity to member countries from a legal challenge at the WTO if their domestic IPR laws suspend or do not enforce IP protection on COVID-19 medical products.
    • Member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are under an obligation to ensure that their domestic intellectual property rights (IPR) laws conform to the requirements of the TRIPS agreement.

    No use of compulsory licencing in India

    • The existing flexibilities under the Patents Act of 1970, such as compulsory licences, which are consistent with the TRIPS agreement, can be used to increase the supply of COVID-19 medical products.
    • However, despite the nudging by the judiciary and others, the government inexplicably hasn’t made use of compulsory licences in the pandemic.
    • While issuing compulsory licences for COVID-19 vaccines in the absence of technology transfer is easier said than done, they can be used to augment the supply of drugs and other therapeutics.
    • For instance, there are demands that compulsory licences be issued for drugs such as Remdesivir to augment supply.
    • Natco, an Indian pharmaceutical company, has requested a compulsory licence under Section 92 of the Patents Act for Baricitinib, a COVID-19 drug.
    • This is ironic because India has historically played a leading role in mainstreaming TRIPS flexibilities like the compulsory licence at the WTO.
    • The Central government, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, states that the main constraint in boosting the production of drugs like Remdesivir is the unavailability of raw materials and essential inputs.
    • The affidavit further states, “it is presumptuous to assume that the patent holder will not agree to more voluntary licences”.

    Issues with the government’s stand

    •  If that is the real bottleneck, and not IPR-related legal hurdles, why is India pushing for a TRIPS waiver at the WTO?
    • The first step in advocating for the removal of IPR-related impediments at the WTO is to make use of the existing lawful means.
    • Therefore, the government’s stand before the Supreme Court is not only contradictory with India’s position at the WTO but also severely undermines it.

    Way forward

    • To make its TRIPS waiver stand convincing, the government needs to make aggressive use of Sections 92 and 100 of the Patents Act to license all patents necessary to make COVID-19 medical products.
    • The government should not only transfer Covaxin’s technology to domestic pharmaceutical companies, to boost national supplies, but also offer it to foreign corporations. 
    •  By unlocking its vaccine technical know-how to the world, India would demonstrate its resolve to walk the talk on the TRIPS waiver.

    Conclusion

    India must take a consistent stand on IPRs on COVID-19 medical products internationally and domestically.

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  • Labour, Jobs and Employment – Harmonization of labour laws, gender gap, unemployment, etc.

    Why has Indian manufacturing been losing jobs since 2016?

    | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Issues relating growth and development, employment

    The State of Working India (SWI) 2021 has documented the impact of one year of Covid-19 in India, on jobs, incomes, inequality, and poverty.

    Highlights of the SWI 2021

    • The SWI 2021 showed that the pandemic had forced people out of their formal jobs into casual work, and led to a severe decline in incomes.
    • There is a sudden increase in poverty over the past year.
    • Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi, contributed disproportionately to job losses.
    • Unsurprisingly, these are also the states that suffered the maximum Covid caseload.

    Labour Participation Rate (LPR) is the ratio of the labour force to the population greater than 15 years of age. It is defined as the section of working population in the age group of 16-64 in the economy currently employed or seeking employment.

    Worsened with COVID

    • It pointed to an ailment of the Indian economy that has not only been a longstanding one but also one that has gotten worse over the past few years even without the help of Covid.
    • Agriculture, mines, manufacturing, real estate and construction, financial services, non-financial services, and public administrative services sectors account for 99% of total employment in India.
    • The number of people employed in the manufacturing sector of the economy has come down from 51 million to 27 million — that is, almost halving in the space of just four years!
    • For instance, the number of people employed in agriculture is going up.
    • Equally disheartening is that employment in non-financial services (such as providing education and entertainment industry etc.) has fallen sharply.

    Why are these trends worrisome?

    • It is important to understand that traditionally Indian policymakers have been of the view that the manufacturing sector is our best hope to soak up the surplus-labour otherwise employed in agriculture.
    • Manufacturing is well suited because it can make use of the millions of poorly educated Indian youth, unlike the services sector, which often requires better education and skill levels.
    • For the longest time, India has struggled to get its manufacturing industries to create a growing bank of jobs.
    • But, and this is what the CMIE data shows, what is happening in the past 4-5 years is that far from soaking up excess labour from other sectors of the economy, manufacturing is actually letting go of workers.

    Return to Agriculture

    • India has seen a hike in the number of people “employed” in agriculture over the past year.
    • This is nothing but disguised unemployment.
    • Essentially, labourers and workers are returning to their rural homes in the absence of jobs either in manufacturing or services.

    Why is Indian manufacturing failing to create jobs?

    • On the face of it, every past government has come out with a policy to boost manufacturing jobs. But still, the situation is getting worse.
    • There are different ways to look at this question.
    1. One is to look at why manufacturing has struggled to create as many jobs in the past
    2. The second is to look at the specific reasons why manufacturing has been bleeding jobs, instead of creating them, since 2016-17.

    Let’s tackle the historical question first.

    • If one looks at any of the sectors in the economy — agriculture, industry, services — starting a manufacturing unit requires the highest amount of fixed investment upfront (relative to the output that may be generated later).
    • In other words, it is a big commitment on the part of an entrepreneur to put up a huge amount of money without necessarily knowing how it will all pan out.
    • What has traditionally made this truly risky is the highly extractive nature of governments.
    • In simpler terms, far too often governments have been corrupt, with officials and politicians extracting bribes.

    Less focus on manufacturing goods

    • As regards the demand for manufacturing goods, experts point out that Indians have always consumed relatively less of manufacturing goods and relatively more of food and services.

    There are two possible reasons for this.

    1. One, most Indians are quite poor and hence most of the income is spent on food.
    2. Two, repairs and maintenance are a very high part of our consumption choice.
    • In other words, when Indians buy a manufactured product — say a refrigerator — they tend to use it for much longer than in developed countries.

    Core of the problem

    • The trouble lies with policymakers repeatedly neglecting the labour-intensive industries.
    • Since the second five year plan, the P C Mahalanobis strategy was to gain self-reliance by investing in capital intensive industries so that India does not have to import machines etc. from other countries.
    • The hope was that the demand from Indian consumers will make the domestic industry viable.
    • But Indian domestic demand was quite anaemic due to poverty levels.

    Other policy lacunas

    • As against the capital intensive industries, which were involved in making heavy machines, the labour-intensive ones (such as leather, handicrafts, textiles etc.) were reserved for the small-scale industry framework.
    • But while the labour-intensive manufacturing firms could not match the capital-intensive firms in terms of GDP value or growth of output, they did have a distinct advantage of creating more jobs.
    • But, by treating them as small-scale industries, policies held back their growth.
    • Moreover, India did not push for integrating its labour-intensive manufacturing in the global supply chains by aggressively following exports.
    • Instead, the idea was to substitute imports in the name of self-reliance.

    What has happened since 2016-17?

    • Things have become worse over the past five odd years despite the Indian government unveiling its ambitious Make in India (MII) initiative and the latest Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.
    • For one India is repeating the same mistakes with MII and PLI schemes.
    • They are again aimed more at capital intensive manufacturing, not labour intensive ones.
    • Moreover, India is reverting to the protectionist approach, aimed at self-reliance, yet again in recent years.
    • Further, much like in the past, this time, too, the domestic demand is weak for aggressively boosting labour-intensive industries aimed at capturing the export markets.

    Conclusion

    • The growing rift in the fortunes of informal and formal manufacturing could be the reason why India is seeing such a massive decline in manufacturing jobs.
    • The government has tried its level best to push for greater formalization but it has often been accused of not understanding the nature and functioning of India’s informal economy.

    Way forward

    • For the same level of employment, formality is good.
    • But if there is a trade-off between formality and employment generation, choosing formality may not be so beneficial. And this trade-off appears to be quite sharp in India.
    • Indian manufacturing is still at best hope for creating new jobs and soaking up excess unskilled labour through better infrastructure and easier regulatory support — to create millions of new jobs.

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  • Zoonotic Diseases: Medical Sciences Involved & Preventive Measures

    ICMR drops Plasma Therapy for COVID-19

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    The use of convalescent plasma has been dropped from the recommended treatment guidelines for COVID-19, according to an advisory from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

    Q.What is convalescent plasma therapy and what are the issues involved in its adoption?

    Convalescent Plasma Therapy

    • The therapy seeks to make use of the antibodies developed in the recovered patient against the coronavirus.
    • The whole blood or plasma from such people is taken, and the plasma is then injected into critically ill patients so that the antibodies are transferred and boost their fight against the virus.
    • A COVID-19 patient usually develops primary immunity against the virus in 10-14 days.
    • Therefore, if the plasma is injected at an early stage, it can possibly help fight the virus and prevent severe illness.

    How often has it been used in the past?

    • This therapy is no new wonder. It has been used several times.
    • The US used plasma of recovered patients to treat patients of Spanish flu (1918-1920).
    • In 2014, the WHO released guidelines to treat Ebola patients with convalescent whole blood and plasma.
    • In 2015, plasma was used for treating MERS patients.

    How is it done?

    • The process to infuse plasma in a patient can be completed quickly.
    • It only requires standard blood collection practices and extraction of plasma.
    • If whole blood is donated (350-450 ml), a blood fractionation process is used to separate the plasma.
    • Otherwise, a special machine called aphaeresis machine can be used to extract the plasma directly from the donor.
    • While blood is indeed extracted from the donor, the aphaeresis machine separates and extracts the plasma using a plasma kit, and the remaining blood components are returned into the donor’s body.

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  • Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

    Places in news: Leang Sakapao Caves

    National Parks/WS | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Important Geophysical Phenomena

    Researchers have reported that Pleistocene-era rock paintings dating back to 45,000-20,000 years ago in cave sites in southern Sulawesi, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, are weathering at an alarming rate.

    Have you ever found the mention of ‘Altamira Caves’ in your NCERTs?

    Leang Sakapao Caves

    • This cave art of Sulawesi is much older than the prehistoric cave art of Europe.
    • The artwork in the area includes what is believed to be the world’s oldest hand stencil (almost 40,000 years ago), created by pressing the hand on a cave wall and spraying wet red-mulberry pigments over it.
    • A nearby cave features the world’s oldest depiction of an animal, a warty pig painted on the wall 45,500 years ago.

    Impact of climate change

    • The artwork made with pigments was decaying due to a process known as haloclasty, which is triggered by the growth of salt crystals due to repeated changes in temperature and humidity.
    • This is caused by alternating wet and dry weather in the region.
    • Indonesia has also experienced several natural disasters in recent years, which have quickened the process of deterioration.

    Note:

    Mark all islands of the Indonesian Archipelago in your Atlas.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Iran

    Farzad B Gas Field

    National Parks/WS | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Iran gave the Farzad B gas field to a domestic gas producer in a setback move to India.

    Farzad B Gas Field

    • Farzad-B is an off-shore natural gas field 20 kilometres off Farsi Island in Iran.
    • The gas field was discovered in 2008 by a consortium of three Indian companies, led by the state-owned ONGC Videsh with a 40% stake; the other companies were Indian Oil Corporation (40%) and Oil India (20%).

    Deal soured after US sanctions

    • Negotiations between the consortium and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to develop the gas field stalled due to secondary sanctions against Iran by the US and the European Union in the early 2010s.
    • Following the lifting of sanctions after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was signed in July 2015 the consortium was close to an agreement to invest $US5 billion to develop the gas field.
    • After the United States withdrawal from the JCPOA in May 2018, and the reinstatement of U.S. sanctions against Iran, the negotiations between the consortium and NIOC broke down.

    Consider the question “Balancing the contrasts has been the basis of India’s relations with Iran. Comment.”

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  • Civil Services Reforms

    Article 311 of the Indian Constitution

    | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Civil Service

    A suspended Maharashtra police officer was dismissed from service by Mumbai Police Commissioner under Article 311 (2) (b) of the Indian Constitution without a departmental enquiry.

    What is Article 311?

    • Article 311 says that no government employee either of an all India service or a state government shall be dismissed or removed by an authority subordinate to the owner that appointed him/her.
    • Section 2 of the article says that no civil servant shall be dismissed or removed or reduced in rank except after an inquiry in which s/he has been informed of the charges and given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in respect of those charges.

    Various safeguards under Art. 311

    • Article 311 is meant to act as a safeguard for civil servants that give them a chance to respond to the charges in an enquiry so that he/she is not arbitrarily dismissed from service.
    • The article also provides exceptions to these safeguards under subclause 2 provision b.
    • It states “when an authority empowered to dismiss or remove a person or to reduce him in rank is satisfied that for some reason, to be recorded by that authority in writing, it is not reasonably practicable to hold such enquiry”.

    What is the process of a departmental enquiry?

    • In a departmental enquiry, after an enquiry officer is appointed, the civil servant is given a formal chargesheet of the charges.
    • The civil servant can represent himself/herself or choose to have a lawyer.
    • Witnesses can be called during the departmental enquiry following which the enquiry officer can prepare a report and submit it to the government for further action.

    Are there other exceptions where a person can be dismissed without departmental enquiry?

    • As per Article 311 subclause 2 provision a, if a government employee is convicted in a criminal case, he can be dismissed without DE.
    • Apart from this, under 311 (2) (c), a government employee can be dismissed when the President or the Governor, as the case may be, is satisfied in the interest of the security of the state.

    Can the dismissal under section 311 (2) be challenged by the government employee?

    • Yes, the government employee dismissed under these provisions can approach either tribunal like the state administrative tribunal or the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) or the Courts.

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  • Global Geological And Climatic Events

    Cyclone Tauktae

    | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    Cyclone Tauktae (pronounced Tau-Te), classified as a very severe cyclonic storm (VSCS) and developed in the Arabian Sea, is wreaking havoc all across the Indian Coast.

    Don’t you think?

     In recent years, strong cyclones have been developing in the Arabian Sea more frequently than earlier.

    Cyclone Tauktae

    • Tauktae is a currently active and strengthening tropical cyclone threatening the state of Gujarat in India and impacting the states Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.
    • It is the fourth cyclone in consecutive years to have developed in the Arabian Sea, that too in the pre-monsoon period (April to June).
    • All these cyclones since 2018 have been categorised as either ‘Severe Cyclone’ or above.
    • Once Tauktae makes its landfall, three of these will have hit either the Gujarat or Maharashtra coast.
    • After Cyclone Mekanu in 2018, which struck Oman, Cyclone Vayu in 2019 struck Gujarat, followed by Cyclone Nisarga in 2020 that struck Maharashtra.

    What is aiding such rapid intensification?

    • Any tropical cyclone requires energy to stay alive.
    • This energy is typically obtained from the warm water and humid air over the tropical ocean.
    • Currently, seawater up to depths of 50 metres has been very warm, supplying ample energy to enable the intensification of Cyclone Tauktae.
    • The more the heat released through condensation of water vapour, the steeper the drop in pressure.
    • A low-pressure system undergoes multiple stages of intensification to form cyclones.

    Not a rare phenomenon

    • Typically, tropical cyclones in the North Indian Ocean region (the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) develop during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon (October to December) periods.
    • May-June and October-November are known to produce cyclones of severe intensity that affect the Indian coasts.

    Is the Arabian Sea becoming cyclone-friendly?

    • Annually, five cyclones on average form in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea combined.
    • Of these, four developments in the Bay of Bengal, which is warmer than the Arabian Sea.
    • In the Arabian Sea, cyclones typically develop over the Lakshadweep area and largely traverse westwards, or away from India’s west coast.
    • However, in recent years, meteorologists have observed that the Arabian Sea, too, has been warming. This is a phenomenon associated with global warming.

    Back2Basics: Tropical Cyclone

    • A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure centre, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rains.
    • Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane, typhoon, tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, or simply cyclone.
    • A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and the northeastern Pacific Ocean, and a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
    • In the south Pacific or the Indian Ocean, comparable storms are referred to simply as “tropical cyclones” or “severe cyclonic storms”.

    Also read:

    [Burning Issue] Tropical Cyclones and India

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