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  • Air Pollution

    Air pollution in India

    op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Despite efforts from several levels, air pollution is getting worse day by day. The article suggests the strategy to deal with the issue of air pollution.

    Solvable problem

    • Pollution is very much a solvable problem but it cannot be solved on an emergency basis.
    • It has to be dealt with firmly and gradually.
    • Why gradually? Because there are many sources of pollution and it would be prohibitively costly to stop them or even significantly reduce them all at once.

    Replacing existing technologies with existing technology

    • The biggest sources air polltion nationally are cooking fires, coal-fired power plants, various industries, crop residue burning, and construction and road dust. Vehicles are further down on the list.
    • Dealing with all these sources will require a gradual replacement of existing technologies with new technologies.
    • Cooking fires must be replaced with LPG, induction stoves, and other electric cooking appliances.
    • Old coal power plants must be closed and replaced with wind and solar power and batteries while newer plants must install new pollution control equipment.
    • No new coal-fired power plants should be built — with renewables being cheaper, coal is obsolete for power generation.
    • Other industries that use coal will have to gradually switch over to cleaner fuel sources such as gas or hydrogen while becoming more energy-efficient at the same time.
    • Farmers will have to switch crops or adopt alternative methods of residue management.
    • Diesel and petrol vehicles must gradually be replaced by electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles running on power generated from renewables.

    Legal measures and issues

    • Governments can make clean investments more profitable and dirty investments less profitable by taxing polluting activities and subsidising clean investments.
    • The judiciary is more powerful but has far less scientific and technical competence.
    • It tends to act only during crises and focus on past mistakes rather than planning to prevent new ones.

    Reforms in regulatory agency

    • Our existing laws do not allow the central and state pollution boards to levy pollution fee or cess based on pollution emissions.
    • Since closing down an industry is a drastic step, it almost never happens.
    • We need a regulatory agency that can levy pollution fee or cess, is that the regulatory decision need not be an all-or-nothing decision.
    • Pollution fees can start small, and the EPA can announce that they will rise by a certain percentage every year.
    • The regulatory agency should be given some independence,like
    • 1) a head appointed for a five-year term removable only by impeachment.
    • 2) a guaranteed budget funded by a small percentage tax on all industries.
    • 3) autonomy to hire staff and to set pollution fees after justification through scientific studies.
    • Three advantages of the regulator with such powers would be-
    • 1) Politicians in power can pass on the blame for decisions on pollution fees to the EPA.
    • 2) Pollution fees raise revenue for the government.
    • 3) If the law establishing an independent EPA is written to require that changes to pollution fees and regulations must be published in advance, and cannot involve abrupt changes, then surprises are avoided.
    • Industry opposition will be muted, especially if industry gets a piece of the revenue to invest in new technologies.

    Conclusion

    Our pollution problem has taken decades to grow into the monster that it is. It can’t be killed in a day. We need the scientific and technical capacity that only a securely funded independent EPA can bring to shrink pollution down to nothing.

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  • Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

    China-led RCEP takes off without India

    IOCR | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a mega trade bloc comprising 15 countries led by China has come into existence.

    Try answering this:

    Q.Signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement would have given more substance to India’s Act East policy. Analyse.

    About RCEP

    • Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) between –
    1. The 10 members of ASEAN
    2. Additional members of ASEAN +3 = China, Japan, South Korea
    3. Members with which ASEAN countries have FTA = Australia, New Zealand
    • The group is expected to represent at least 30% of the global GDP and will emerge as the largest free trade agreement in the world.
    • It includes more than 3 billion people, has a combined GDP of about $17 trillion, and accounts for about 40 per cent of world trade.

    India’s reluctance

    • India’s ties with China in recent months have been disturbed by the military tension in eastern Ladakh along the LAC.
    • In the meantime, India has also held a maritime exercise with Japan, Australia, and the United States for the “Quad” that was interpreted as an anti-China move.
    • However, these moves did not influence Japanese and Australian plans regarding RCEP.

     Leverage for China

    • Despite the pandemic, the RCEP is certainly leverage for China and shows the idea of decoupling from China is not a substantive issue in a regional sense.
    • The agreement means a lot for China, as it will give it access to Japanese and South Korean markets in a big way, as the three countries have not yet agreed on their FTA.

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  • North-East India – Security and Developmental Issues

     Assam-Mizoram Boundary Dispute

    | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Federalism

    The recent violence and tension on the Assam-Mizoram border underline the differences the two States have had since 1972 when Mizoram was carved out of Assam as a Union Territory.

    Try answering this:

    Q.Assam has had boundary problems with almost all of its north-eastern neighbours. Discuss.

    *Also note the states bordering Assam.

    What is the Dispute?

    • Mizoram was carved out of Assam as a Union Territory in 1972. In 1987, it became a full-fledged state.
    • The two states have sparred over where the border lies in the past, leading to the occasional violence.
    • The disagreement stems from differing views on which border demarcation to follow.
    • Mizoram’s perception of the border is based on an 1875 notification that flows from the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation Act of 1873.
    • The Act demarcated the Lushai Hills from the plains and valleys in the North East, restricting free travel between the two zones. The hills were deemed to be “excluded areas”.
    • Assam, for its part, goes by a 1933 notification by the state government that demarcated the Lushai Hills, as Mizoram was then known, from the province of Manipur.

    The Assamese problem

    • Assam has had boundary problems with all its north-eastern neighbours, except Manipur and Tripura that had existed as separate entities.
    • The primary reason is that the other States, a part of Assam during the British rule, have contested the boundaries since they became States, beginning with Nagaland in 1963.
    • Assam has accepted several recommendations of border commissions set up by the Supreme Court, but other States have been sticking to “historical boundaries” that go back to the period before 1826.
    • However, the border residents have to bear the brunt of the unrest unless an acceptable solution is arrived at.

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

    Sex Ratio in India

    DOMR | | Mains Paper 1: Population & Associated Issues

    A 2018 report on “vital statistics of India based on the Civil Registration System” shows crucial data of sex ratios of major states in India.

    Sex Ratio

    • Sex ratio at birth is the number of females born per thousand males.
    • Sex ratios are among the most basic of demographic parameters and provide an indication of both the relative survival of females and males and the future breeding potential of a population.

    Try this PYQ

    Q.Consider the following specific stages of demographic transition associated with economic development:

    1. Low birth rate with a low death rate
    2. High birth rate with a high death rate
    3. High birth rate with a low death rate

    Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

    (a) 1, 2 and 3 only

    (b) 3, 2 and 1 only

    (c) 2, 3 and 1 only

    (d) 3, 2 and 1 only

    Statewise data

    • Arunachal Pradesh recorded 1,084 females born per thousand males, followed by Nagaland (965) Mizoram (964), Kerala (963) and Karnataka (957).
    • The worst was reported in Manipur (757), Lakshadweep (839) and Daman & Diu (877), Punjab (896) and Gujarat (896).
    • Delhi recorded a sex ratio of 929, Haryana 914 and Jammu and Kashmir 952.
    • The number of registered births increased to 2.33 crore in 2018 from 2.21 crore registered births the previous year.

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-Middle East

    UAE’s Golden Visa Program

    Prelims Only | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Effect Of Policies & Politics Of World On India’S Interests

    The United Arab Emirates will extend its “golden” visa system — which grants 10-year residency in the West Asian nation — to certain professionals, specialised degree-holders and others.

    Do you know?

     India is the world’s top recipient of remittances with its diaspora sending a whopping $79 billion back home in 2018 a/c to the World Bank.

    Golden Visa Programme

    • The “Golden Card” programme is open to investors and “exceptional talents” such as doctors, engineers, scientists, students and artists.
    • The visa categories include:
    1. General investors who will be granted a 10 years visa
    2. Real estate investors, who can get a visa for 5 years Visa
    3. Entrepreneurs and talented professionals such as doctors, researchers and innovators: 10 years Visa
    4. Outstanding students — will also be permitted residency visas for 5 years
    • All categories of visas can be renewed upon expiry.

    Benefits for India

    • The Indian expatriate community is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the UAE, constituting roughly about 30 per cent of the country’s population of around nine million.
    • Though most of the Indians living in the UAE are employed, about 10 per cent of the Indian population constitutes dependent family members, according to the Indian Embassy.

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

    Places in news: Tristan da Cunha

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

    The isolated UK Overseas Territory of Tristan da Cunha, the world’s most remote human settlement, has been declared the largest fully protected marine reserves in the Atlantic Ocean at 687,000 square kilometres.

    Note the location of Tristan da Cunha Islands in the Atlantic.

    Tristan da Cunha

    • Tristan da Cunha, which is inhabited by less than 300 humans is a small chain of islands over 6,000 miles from London in the South Atlantic and the water around the islands are considered to be the richest in the world.
    • The mountainous archipelago is home to tens of millions of seabirds and several unique land birds that are comparable to the Galapagos island finches.
    • The island group is also home to the World Heritage Site of Gough and Inaccessible Islands, which is one of the most important seabird islands in the world.

    Significance of protection

    • After joining the UK’s Blue Belt Programme, it will become the largest no-take zone in the Atlantic and the fourth largest on the planet.
    • This will close over 90 per cent of their waters to harmful activities such as bottom-trawling fishing, sand extraction and deep-sea mining.
    • The almost 700,000 square kilometres of the Marine Protection Zone (MPZ) is almost three times the size of the UK and will safeguard the future of sevengill sharks, Yellow-nosed albatrosses and rockhopper penguins.
    • MPZs involve the management of certain natural areas for biodiversity conservation or species protection and are created by delineating zones with permitted and non-permitted areas within that zone.

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  • Global Geological And Climatic Events

    Leonid Meteor Shower

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    The Leonid meteor showers are currently making their yearly appearance and will reach their peak in India on November 17 and 18.  In August this year, there was another meteor called Perseids Shower.

    Try this question from CSP 2014:

    Q.What is a coma, in the content of astronomy?

    (a) Bright half of material on the comet

    (b) Long tail of dust

    (c) Two asteroids orbiting each other

    (d) Two planets orbiting each other

    What is Leonid Meteor Shower?

    • Meteor showers are named after the constellation they appear to be coming from.
    • The Leonids originate from the constellation Leo the Lion– the groups of stars which form a lion’s mane.
    • They emerge from the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which requires 33 years to revolve once around the Sun.
    • These meteors are bright and among the fastest moving– travelling at speeds of 71 km per second.
    • During this year’s showers, peaks of around 10 to 15 meteors are expected to be seen every hour.
    • The Leonid showers include fireballs– bright and large meteors than can last longer than average meteors, and “earthgazers”– meteors which appear close to the horizon with colourful and long tails.

    What is a meteor shower?

    • On its journey around the Sun, the Earth passes through large swathes of cosmic debris.
    • The debris is essentially the remnants of comets — great frigid chunks of matter that leave behind dirty trails of rocks and ice that linger long after the comets themselves have passed.
    • As the Earth wades through this cloud of comet waste, the bits of debris create what appears from the ground to be a fireworks display in the sky — known as a meteor shower.
    • Several meteor showers can be seen around the year. According to NASA, over 30 meteor showers occur annually and are observable from the Earth.

    Back2Basics:

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  • Policy Wise: India’s Power Sector

    Power sector reforms: UK lessons for India

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

    Reforms in power sector in the UK were extensive and offers some important lessons for India. This article elaborates on the issue of reforms the challenges in introducing such reforms in India.

    Background of the power sector reforms in UK

    • After living with vertically integrated utilities till 1989, they unbundled.
    • Unbundling created markets both at generation and retail end.
    • Today, they are back to a situation where 70% of the power generated is sold outside the wholesale market.
    • The Electricity Act, 1989, which paved the way for the appointment of a regulator and thereafter, leading to unbundling, both vertical and horizontal.
    • Twelve distribution utilities were set up (called RECs) along with three-generation companies and also a national wires company (called NGC).
    • All of them were privatised barring Nuclear Electricity.
    • Retail competition was introduced in 1990 and was extended to all consumers in 1998.
    • A wholesale market was set up for generators.
    • The next major step was to fragment the generators because the regulator felt that they were colluding.
    • NETA in 2001 was primarily a tie-up between gencos and their consumers with long-term power purchase agreements.
    • The Energy Act, 2012, was enacted, which envisaged further changes.

    Issues with Power sector reform in India

    • The Electricity Act, 2003 is a very cautious and timid exercise compared to what has been done in the UK.
    • Through the Act, we have merely unbundled and ring-fenced our utilities so that there is transparency in the accounts; this itself took us several years.
    • There has been no attempt to create a wholesale market or a full-fledged retail market where the consumer chooses the supplier.
    • Large consumers, having loads in excess of 1 MW, however, have the option of open-access where they can opt to receive supply from some other entity, instead of his incumbent utility.
    • The road to open access though has been bumpy, and discoms have opposed it tooth and nail.
    • Besides what was possible in the UK may not be possible in India.
    • The UK did not have a regime of cross-subsidies where the commercial and industrial sectors subsidise agriculture and low-end domestic consumers and also did not have high commercial loss levels.
    • Moreover, in the UK, all consumers were metered, unlike India.
    • There is yet another factor: ‘Power’ falls in the Concurrent List.
    • The Centre and states rarely see eye-to-eye on several issues concerning the sector, especially on matters relating to distribution.
    • Consequently, any major change does not get accepted.

    Issues in introducing reform in India

    • The CERC floated a discussion paper in December 2018 about the creation of a wholesale market in India.
    • This amounts to retrofitting, and retrofitting in an existing architecture has its limitations.
    • But the issue is whether India should attempt creating a wholesale market or for that matter a full-fledged retail market in India, especially after the experience of the UK.
    • The UK is almost back to the era of vertically integrated utilities, and consumers barely switch their retailer.

    Way forward

    • We need to privatise our distribution sector by creating joint ventures with the government.
    • the government will have to undertake initial hand-holding till such time commercial losses are wiped out.
    • This is the model which was followed in the case of Delhi and has proven successful.
    • Commercial losses have come down from 50% to single-digit figures within a span of 10 to 12 years.
    • Once we reach that stage, we can think of creating a full-fledged retail market where a consumer can choose her supplier.

    Consider the question “Despite several reforms in the power sector, India still lacks full-fledged retail. What are the challenges in the creation of such a market. Suggest the ways to deal with the challenges.”

    Conclusion

    The Indian consumer is only interested in good quality power supply at a reasonable price. We only need to take policy measures so that the incumbent utilities can provide this, since, this will be the least costly path.

    Source:-

    https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/power-reforms-uk-lessons-for-india/2127560/

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  • Freedom of Speech – Defamation, Sedition, etc.

    Issues with the regulation of digital media by government

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

    The article deals with the recent decision of the government to regulate digital media through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and issues with it.

    Regulating the press

    • Recently, government put the online news and current affairs portals along with “films and audio-visual programmes made available by online content providers” under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • Through the move, government is clubbing the only sector of the media which has pre-censorship, namely films  with the news media which has so far, at least officially, not been subject to pre-censorship.
    • The move hijacks matters before the Supreme Court of India relating to freedom of the press and freedom of expression to arm the executive with control over the free press, thereby essentially making it unfree.
    • It also hijacks another public interest litigation in the Supreme Court relating to content on “Over The Top” (OTT) platforms not being subject to regulation or official oversight to bring that sector too under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • The move creates an artificial distinction between the new-age digital media which is the media of the future, the media of the millennial generation — and the older print and TV news media.

    Reasons given by the government and issues with it

    • The explanation given is that the print media have the oversight of the Press Council of India and the TV media of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
    • Therefore the digital media needed a regulatory framework — no less than that of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
    • However, there is no comparison between the Press Council of India and the NBA as professional bodies on the one hand and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the other.
    • The fate of the digital media under the control of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting leaves little scope for hope.

    Consider the question “Regulation of digital media while solving some chronic issues gives rise to concerns over the freedom of press and expression. In light of this, examine the need for regulation of digital media by government and issues in it.”

    Conclusion

    The government regulations would be counterproductive for both the media practitioner and the media entrepreneur and for the startups that have been the new vibrant face of contemporary journalism.

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  • Economic Indicators and Various Reports On It- GDP, FD, EODB, WIR etc

    How to improve the income and Productivity of Indian labour?

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

     

    Slowdown in demand

    • The bigger medium-term problem facing Indian economy is the slowdown of aggregate demand — private final consumption expenditure (PFCE), investment and exports.
    • The largest component of GDP, PFCE, has declined as a share of GDP 68 per cent in 1990 to 56 per cent of GDP in 2019 .
    • The consumption of the top socio-economic deciles (top 10%) has stagnated.
    • Also the consumption demand of the rest of the demography ( 90%) — mostly in agriculture, small-scale manufacturing and self-employed — is not increasing due to low income growth.

    How to increase income and productivity

    • Atmanirbhar Bharat depends on improving the income and productivity of a majority of the labour force.
    • First, incentivise the farming community to shift from grain-based farming to cash crops, horticulture and livestock products.
    • Second, shift the labour force from agriculture to manufacturing.
    • India can only become self-reliant if it uses its 900 million people in the working-age population with an average age of 27 and appropriates its demographic dividend as China did.
    • That is possible if labour-intensive manufacturing takes place in a big way, creating employment opportunities for labour force with low or little skills, generating income and demand.
    • India is in a unique position at a time when all other manufacturing giants are ageing sequentially — Japan, EU, the US, and even South Korea and China.
    • Most of these countries have moved out of low-end labour-intensive manufacturing, and that space is being taken by countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Mexico, etc.
    • India offers the best opportunity in terms of a huge domestic market and factor endowments.

    Way forward

    • We need Indian firms to be part of the global value chain by attracting multinational enterprises and foreign investors in labour-intensive manufacturing, which will facilitate R&D, branding, exports, etc.
    • There is a need to aggressively reduce both tariffs and non-tariff barriers on imports of inputs and intermediate products.
    • Removing these barriers create a competitive manufacturing sector for Make in India, and “Assembly in India”.
    • Apart from trade reforms, further factor market reforms are required, such as rationalising punitive land acquisition clauses and rationalising labour laws, both at the Centre and state level.
    • We also have to go for large-scale vocational training from the secondary-school level, like China and other east and south-east Asian countries.

    Consider the question “Key to faster economic progress of India lies in income growth and productivity of its labour force. Suggest the ways to achieve these.”

    Conclusion

    The COVID-triggered economic crisis should lead us to create a development model that leads to opportunities for the people at the bottom of the pyramid. A competitive and open economy can ensure Atmanirbhar Bharat.

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