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  • Urban Floods

    Bihar to change Kosi’s course to save the ancient site

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    The Bihar government will try to divert the course of the mighty Kosi River in Bhagalpur district to save an archaeological site discovered recently.

    Tap to read more about the Himalayan Drainage System:

    Drainage System | Part 3

    Kosi River: The Sorrow of Bihar

    • The Kosi is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, Nepal and India.
    • The river crosses into northern Bihar, India where it branches into distributaries before joining the Ganges near Kursela in Katihar district.
    • Its unstable nature has been attributed course changes and the heavy silt it carries during the monsoon season, and flooding in India has extreme effects.
    • It is also known as the “Sorrow of Bihar” as the annual floods affect about 21,000 km2 of fertile agricultural lands thereby disturbing the rural economy.

    Why change its course?

    • Several priceless artefacts have been found at the Guwaradih village in Naugachhia sub-division of Bhagalpur district during the excavation of a mound.
    • These items could be 2,500-years-old and could be of interest for historians if conserved.
    • The historical sites are facing threats from the Kosi floods.
    • The Kosi currently flows around 300-400 metres from the site, while its old course is about two kilometres from the village.

    Threats posed by the move

    • Environmentalists have warned that changing the Kosi’s course could be disastrous for Bihar as seen in 2008.
    • At that time, the river had breached its mud embankments at Kushaha in Nepal.
    • The Kosi frequently changes its course naturally. If its course is artificially changed, it will cause floods and erosion in new areas, leading to massive displacement of people.
    • It then caused extensive damage to life and property downstream in five densely populated districts of northeast Bihar.
    • Some 500 people were killed and four million rendered homeless.

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  • Establishing trust between government and citizens

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    The article highlights the important role played by the intermediaries in connecting the citizens with the government.

    Addressing the connect between government and citizens

    • By exploring how digitally excluded communities engage with governance we understand that humans are significant in brokering trust between governments and citizens.
    • This is true even for the ‘Digital India’.
    • However, only a few States have built a cadre of individuals for last mile governance.
    • Andhra Pradesh, for instance, rolled out a ward secretariat programme with over 16,000 ward secretaries and volunteers for delivering government services at citizens’ doorstep.

    Understanding the role played by intermediaries

    • Intermediaries help citizens overcome barriers to awareness of availability of digital services and rights from the state and ability.
    •  Intermediaries support individuals by placing complaints, directing them to the right authorities, and following up.
    • Intermediaries are crucial offline architectures that enable the state to do its work better.
    • Community-based organisations and NGOs see their work as allied to their core work.

    Way forward

    • Various types and forms of intermediation emerge based on regional, social, cultural and economic contexts.
    • Equally, it is essential to pay attention to the varying incentives of intermediaries and not romanticise the benefits.
    • We need to see intermediaries as crucial to the realisation of governance outcomes.
    • India has formalised intermediation in traditional markets such as mutual funds from which we can learn.
    • In these areas, formal governance mechanisms, structured capacity building, widespread awareness campaigns, and process re-engineering enabled growth and usage.
    • At a broader level, increasing digitisation of governance across domains including healthcare, financial inclusion, justice and social services should be considered.

    Conclusion

    By acknowledging the role of intermediaries and supporting them, we will be able to support the process of responsible, responsive and data-driven governance across domains.

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  • Festivals, Dances, Theatre, Literature, Art in News

    Festivals in news: Chillai Kalan

    Prelims Only | History | Mains Paper 1: Arts & Culture

    People in the Kashmir valley are finding unique ways to celebrate the start of ‘Chillai Kalan’, a local term for the 40-day period of harshest winter that begins annually from December 21.

    Tap here to read all about:

    Festivals, Dances, Theatre, Literature, Art in News

    Chillai Kalan

    • Chillai Kalan is the coldest 40-day period of harsh winter of winter in the Jammu and Kashmir region.
    • It is traditionally defined as a seasonal period of harsh winter accompanied by a change in increase in both frequency and quantity of precipitation usually snow.
    • It begins from December 21 and ends on January 31 next year.
    • It is followed by a 20-day long Chillai-Khurd (small cold) that occurs between January 31 and February 19 and a 10-day long Chillai-Bachha (baby cold).
    • According to Persian tradition, the night of 21st December is celebrated as Shab-e Yalda-“Night of Birth”, or Shab-e Chelleh “Night of Forty”.

    Its’ celebration

    • In the Persian tradition, the night of December 21, the longest of the year, is celebrated as Shab-e-Yalda (night of birth) or Shab-e-Chelleh.
    • Dozens of netizens from Kashmir named it the ‘Pheran Day’, after the long woollen gown worn during the winters in Kashmir.
    • Use of a traditional firing pot called Kangri increases.
    • Tap water pipelines partially freeze during this period. The Dal Lake also freezes.
    • The famous tourist resort of Gulmarg receives heavy snow which attracts skier’s from every part of the world.

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  • UDAY Scheme for Discoms

    [pib] Rights to the Electricity Consumers

    PIB | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    The Ministry of Power has for the first time laid down Rights to the Electricity Consumers through “Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020”.

    Q.What are the new Rights to the Electricity Consumers as envisaged under Electricity (Rights of Consumers) Rules, 2020?

    Rights to the Electricity Consumers: A highlight

    Following key areas are covered in the Electricity (Rights of consumers) Rules:

    • Rights of consumers and Obligations of Distribution licensees
    • Release of new connection and modification in an existing connection
    • Metering arrangement
    • Billing and Payment
    • Disconnection and Reconnection
    • Reliability of supply
    • Consumer as Prosumer
    • Standards of Performance of licensee
    • Compensation Mechanism
    • Call Centre for Consumer Services
    • Grievance redressal mechanism

    (1) Rights and Obligations

    • It is the duty of every distribution licensee to supply electricity on request made by an owner or occupier of any premises in line with the provisions of the Act.
    • It is the right of the consumer to have minimum standards of service for the supply of electricity from the distribution licensee.

    (2) Release of new connection and modification in an existing connection

    • Transparent, simple, and time-bound processes,
    • The applicant has an option for online application,
    • The maximum time period of 7 days in metro cities and 15 days in other municipal areas and 30 days in rural areas identified to provide new connections and modify existing connections.

    (3) Metering

    • No connection shall be given without a meter;
    • Meter shall be the smart pre-payment meter or pre-payment meter;
    • Provision of Testing of meters;
    • Provisions for replacement of defective or burnt or stolen meters specified.

    (4) Billing and payment

    • Transparency in applicable consumer tariff and bills;
    • A consumer shall have the option to pay bills online or offline;
    • Provision for advance payment of bills.

    (5) Reliability of supply

    • The distribution licensee shall supply 24×7 powers to all consumers. However, the Commission may specify lower hours of supply for some categories of consumers like agriculture;
    • The distribution licensee shall put in place a mechanism, preferably with automated tools to the extent possible, for monitoring and restoring outages.

    (6) Consumer as prosumer

    • The prosumers will maintain consumer status and have the same rights as the general consumer.
    • They will also have the right to set up RE generation units including rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems – either by themselves or through a service provider.
    • Net metering for loads up to ten kW and for gross metering for loads above ten kW.

    (7) Standards of Performance

    • The Commission shall notify the standards of performance for the distribution licensees;
    • Compensation amount to be paid to the consumers by the distribution licensees for violation of standards of performance.

    (8) Compensation mechanism

    • Automatic compensation shall be paid to consumers for which parameters on standards of performance can be monitored remotely;
    • The standards of performance for which the compensation is required to be paid by the distribution licensee.

    (9) Call Centre for Consumer Services

    • Distribution licensee shall establish a centralized 24×7 toll-free call center;
    • Licensees shall endeavor to provide all services through a common Customer Relation Manager (CRM) System to get a unified view.

    (10) Grievance redressal mechanism

    • Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) to include consumer and prosumer representatives;
    • The consumer grievance redressal has been made easy by making it multi-layered and the number of consumer’s representatives has been increased from one to four.
    • The licensee shall specify the time within which various types of grievances by the different levels of the forums are to be resolved. Maximum timeline of 45 days specified for grievance redressal.

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  • Tiger Conservation Efforts – Project Tiger, etc.

    [pib] Leopard Population in India

    PIB | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has released the Status of Leopards Report.

    Confused over Leopard and Cheetah?

    The most common difference between these two animals is the patterns on their coat. At first glance, it may look like they both have spots, but in actual fact, a leopard has rosettes which are rose-like markings, and cheetahs have a solid round or oval spot shape.

    Indian Leopards

    • The Indian leopard (Panthera pardus fusca) is a leopard subspecies widely distributed on the Indian subcontinent.
    • It is one of the big cats occurring on the Indian subcontinent, apart from the Asiatic lion, Bengal tiger, snow leopard and clouded leopard.
    • It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because populations have declined following habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching for the illegal trade of skins and body parts.

    Leopards in India

    • India now has 12,852 leopards as compared to the previous estimate of 7910 conducted 2014.
    • More than 60% increase in population has been recorded.
    • The States of Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra recorded the highest leopard estimates at 3,421, 1,783 and 1,690 respectively.
    • India’s world record tiger survey also estimated the population of leopards and the tiger range was found a home to 12,852 (12,172-13,535) leopards.

    Significance

    • The increase in Tiger, Lion & Leopards numbers over the last few years is a testimony to the conservation efforts and of the fledgeling wildlife & biodiversity of the country.

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  • Policy implementation in India : Issues

    | Governance | : Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters,Government Scheme/Policies

    Policy implementation matters as much as the policy itself. The article highlights the importance of monitoring system to track the implementation of the policies.

    Implementing policy

    • It is taken for granted that a government policy or social-development program, is meant to be perfectly executed.
    • Implementation is the key and ends up with sub-par results and uncompleted projects.
    • India has had mixed experiences post-Independence, the consolidated development chart will appear rather skewed.
    • Millions continue to live in abject poverty, deprived of basic amenities.

    Dealing with implementation deficit

    • India needs to work on the implementation and reforms processes in a wider manner, with the primary aim of attaining fast-paced development and effective delivery of the intended public benefits.
    • The first requirement would be a capable implementing machine — or what has been called the “perfect administration”, driven by passionate team leaders.
    • The guiding urge should be to complete the task before schedule.
    • Other critical determinants include:
    • Unambiguous demarcation of responsibilities.
    • Frequent brainstorming sessions to anticipate and take formal note of likely challenges and agreeing upon solutions.
    • Ensuring and authorizing a largely freehand with matching resources, and the ability to make on-the-spot decisions.
    • The evergreen strategy to make the implementation of a near-perfect process is to build in a vigilant monitoring and evaluation mechanism.
    • A dynamic monitoring mechanism makes use of technology, which today is being built into various flagship programs initiated by the present government.

    Achieving implementation

    • In the interest of achieving wholesome implementation, it would be desirable to set up an autonomous “Monitoring Trust”.
    • The trust will act as an integral part of all important public policies and programs.
    • The proposed Trust can comprise core technical, administrative, and legal members, along with stakeholders and social activists.
    • Engaging stakeholders and implementers, through various methodologies, is fast emerging as an effective strategy.
    • Sharing information and progress through dashboards and other technology tools, inviting suggestions through IT portals like MyGov democratize and enrich both policy formulation and execution.
    • The institutions and methodologies developed in Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana present an exemplary fusion between human ingenuity and the miracles of customized technology.

    Conclusion

    The political leadership both at the national and the state level is the most crucial force behind the success of the implementation machinery. An endeavor’s effective implementation alone can provide the converge with good governance, bold innovation, rewarding delivery, and the transformation of marginalized human lives.

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

    Dominance of Private healthcare in India & Related issues

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

    • Lack of resources such as 1:1,700, doctor: citizen ratio, well below the minimum ratio of 1:1,000 stipulated by WHO.

    • Rural areas and smaller towns of India are the worst sufferers, where even basic health services remain inaccessible, many cases were reported where ward boys and alone found running the primary healthcare center.

    • Inadequate government spending on healthcare and lack of access to health insurance to a large section of society.

    • The quality of public health services in India continues to remain below expectations which hamper the economic growth of the country.

    • Government’s inability to build sufficient capacity and infrastructure, difficulty in reaching out to poor and vulnerable groups.

    • An undersized skilled workforce and the absence of upgraded technology is a major challenge in the health sector.

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  • Human Rights Issues

    Custodial torture in India

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Governance, Transparency & Accountability, Citizens Charters

    Installation of cameras would help in curbing the custodial torture to some extent but ending the menace requires comprehensive reforms.

    Installation of CCTV cameras to curb custodial torture

    • The Supreme Court recently mandated that CCTV cameras be installed in police stations and offices of other investigative agencies.
    • However, previous decisions with similar recommendations have been poorly implemented.
    • The present decision shows a marked difference from the earlier ones in its approach.
    • It shows more care by listing out areas of police stations where cameras must be installed to ensure that there are no blind spots.
    • It asks for oversight committees to be set up to monitor the functioning of the cameras.
    • It also specifies that the cameras must be equipped with night vision and be able to record audio and visual footage.
    • The recordings will have to be preserved for at least 12 months.

    Issues with installing CCTV cameras

    • Alteration of a video to conceal an object, an event, or change the meaning conveyed by the video is a well-documented reality in the United States.
    • Indian courts have also expressed their apprehension of police tampering with CCTV footage.
    • The judgment does not assuage these concerns.
    •  Cameras in police stations will not foreclose the possibility of torture in other locations.
    • Multiple works on torture in India suggest that torture is often not inflicted in police stations, but in isolated areas or police vehicles.
    • Victims are illegally detained and tortured in undisclosed locations before officially arrested and brought to the police station.

    Challenges in fixing criminal responsibility

    • Since torture is not recognized as an offense per se under Indian law, the judgment refers to the use of force resulting in “serious injuries and/or custodial deaths” unwittingly creates a high threshold for what amounts to torture.
    • It fails to acknowledge the existence of forms of physical and psychological torture that leave behind no marks on the body.
    • Requiring prior sanction from the government operates as the foremost hurdle in initiating criminal complaints.
    • The absence of statutory guidelines mandating independent investigation results in police officers from the same police station investigating the crime and suppressing evidence.
    • Between 2005-2018, with respect to 1,200 deaths in police custody, 593 cases were registered, 186 police personnel were charge-sheeted, and only seven were convicted (National Crime Records Bureau).
    •  Evidentiary concerns frequently arise since often the only witnesses are the victims themselves.
    • The Supreme Court (1995) has noted that police officials remain silent to protect their colleagues as they are “bound by brotherhood” and held that courts should not insist on direct or ocular evidence in these cases.
    • This position is rarely applied and many cases result in acquittal for want of evidence.

    Conclusion

    Monitoring the police through CCTVs is an important step towards combating torture but its effectiveness is contingent on broader reforms. The Supreme Court needs to ensure a robust implementation of its order and simultaneously plug the gaps so that incidents of torture are curtailed.

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  • Biofuel Policy

    E20 Fuel to Cut Vehicular Emissions

    | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    The government has proposed the adoption of E20 fuel — a blend of 20% of ethanol and gasoline — as an automobile fuel in order to reduce vehicular emissions as well as the country’s oil import bill.

    E20 Fuel

    • E20 is a blend of 20% ethanol with gasoline (petrol) and can be used as an alternative to the fuels currently available.
    • The government is looking at the adoption of mass emission standards for this fuel for transport application.
    • Additionally, it also wishes to facilitate the development of E20 compliant vehicles.
    • The government believes that the E20 blend will not only curb vehicle emissions but help reduce the country’s oil import bill.

    Ethanol – Pros and Cons

    • Ethanol is a common by-product that comes from agricultural feedstock like corn, hemp, potato, etc. It can be used as a bio-fuel in Flexi-fuel vehicles.
    • It is greener than gasoline because the corn and crop plantations absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.
    • While the fuel still releases CO2 when you burn it, the net increase is comparatively lower.
    • However, ethanol is less efficient as a fuel. It has lower energy content than energy-rich gasoline and diesel.
    • The rule delivers less power when burned, which in return results in more fuel consumption and lower mileage.
    • Additionally, blends over E20 (20% ethanol) is highly corrosive for older vehicles as the alcohol can break down old rubber seals and can damage engines.

    Vehicle compatibility

    • It added the compatibility of vehicles with the percentage of ethanol in the blend would be defined by the vehicle manufacturer, which would have to be displayed on the vehicle with a sticker.
    • Ethanol is a biofuel and a common by-product of biomass left by agricultural feedstock such as corn, sugarcane, hemp, potato, etc.

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  • Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

    What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

    | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a first-of-its-kind intentional genomic alteration (IGA) in a line of domestic pigs referred to as GalSafe pigs.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q.What is Cas9 protein that is often mentioned in news?

    (a) A molecular scissors used in targeted gene editing

    (b) A biosensor used in the accurate detection of pathogens in patients

    (c) A gene that makes plants pest-resistant

    (d) A herbicidal sub

    What is Intentional Genomic Alteration?

    • Intentional genomic alteration in animals’ means making specific changes to the genome of the organism using modern molecular technologies.
    • These are popularly referred to as “genome editing” or “genetic engineering”. However, there are other technologies that can be used to make IGAs in animals.
    • Such changes in the DNA sequence of an animal may be carried out for research purposes, to produce healthier meat for human consumption and to study disease resistance in animals among other reasons.
    • One example is of using IGAs to make an animal more susceptible to certain diseases such as cancer, which helps researchers get a better understanding of the disease and develop new therapies to treat it.

    What does FDA’s recent approval mean?

    • The FDA made the announcement this week and allowed IGA in GalSafe pigs to eliminate a type of sugar found in mammals called alpha-gal.
    • This sugar is present on the surface of these pigs’ cells and when they are used for products such as medicines or food.
    • The sugar is found in red meats such as beef, pork and lamb, the sugar makes some people with Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS) more susceptible to developing mild to severe allergic reactions.
    • IGA will help eventually free these products from detectable alpha-gal sugar, thereby protecting their human consumers from potential allergies.

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