Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 66A
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Supreme Court has ordered States and their police forces to stop prosecuting free speech on social media under Section 66A of the Information Technology Act which was declared unconstitutional by the court in a judgment seven years ago.
What did Section 66A do?
- Introduced in 2008, the amendment to the IT Act, 2000, gave the government power to arrest and imprison an individual for allegedly “offensive and menacing” online posts, and was passed without discussion in Parliament.
- Section 66A empowered police to make arrests over what policemen, in terms of their subjective discretion, could construe as “offensive” or “menacing” or for the purposes of causing annoyance, inconvenience, etc.
- It prescribed the punishment for sending messages through a computer or any other communication device like a mobile phone or a tablet, and a conviction could fetch a maximum of three years in jail.
- In 2015, the apex court struck down the law in the landmark case Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, calling it “open-ended and unconstitutionally vague”, and thus expanded the contours of free speech to the Internet.
Why was the law criticized?
- The problem was with the vagueness about what is “offensive”.
- The word having a very wide connotation was open to distinctive, varied interpretations.
- It was seen as subjective, and what might have been innocuous for one person, could lead to a complaint from someone else and, consequently, an arrest arbitrarily.
So, how did 66A come under the Supreme Court’s scrutiny?
- The first petition came up in the court following the arrest of two girls in Maharashtra by Thane Police in November 2012 over a Facebook post.
- The girls had made comments on the shutdown of Mumbai for the funeral of a political leader.
- The arrests triggered outrage from all quarters over the manner in which the cyber law was used.
- The petition was filed by Shreya Singhal, then a 21-year-old law student.
What were the grounds for the challenge?
- The objective behind the 2008 amendment was to prevent the misuse of information technology, particularly through social media.
- The petitioners argued that Section 66A came with extremely wide parameters, which allowed whimsical interpretations by law enforcement agencies.
- Most of the terms used in the section had not been specifically defined under the Act.
- The law was a potential tool to gag legitimate free speech online and to curtail freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution, going far beyond the ambit of “reasonable restrictions” on that freedom.
What did the Supreme Court decide?
- In March 2015, a bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and R.F. Nariman ruled in Shreya Singhal v. Union of India declared Section 66A unconstitutional for “being violative of Article 19(1)(a) and not saved under Article 19(2).”
- Article 19(1)(a) gives people the right to speech and expression whereas 19(2) accords the state the power to impose “reasonable restrictions” on the exercise of this right.
- The decision was considered a landmark judicial pushback against state encroachment on the freedom of speech and expression.
- The bench also read down Section 79– now at the centre of the ongoing “intermediary liability” battle between the Centre and micro-blogging platform Twitter– defining key rules for the relationship between governments and commercial internet platforms.
- Section 79 says that any intermediary shall not be held legally or otherwise liable for any third party information, data, or communication link made available or hosted on its platform.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Flex Fuel
Mains level: Ethanol blended petrol (EBP) Program
The auto sector is testing many new technologies to reduce carbon emissions. Flex fuel is one technology that has gained currency.
What are Flex Fuel Vehicles?
- Like traditional vehicles, flex fuel vehicles have an internal combustion engine, but instead of regular petrol, it can run on blended fuel—petrol with ethanol or methanol.
- The ethanol mix can vary between 20% and 85%.
- The vehicle has additional sensors and different programming of the engine control module to assess the blend of the fuel and adjust accordingly.
- Unlike electric hybrid vehicles, no bulky parts need to be added to the basic gasoline vehicle architecture.
- Upgrading existing vehicles to run on high blend of ethanol fuel, however, is possible but expensive and not considered feasible.
Are they better than traditional vehicles?
- Flex fuel vehicles are seen as a one-shot solution for multiple problems—pollution, oil import bill and glut in sugar production.
- According to the US department of energy, they have lower overall greenhouse gas emissions, between 40-108%, depending on the feedstock used to produce them.
- It could also help bring down India’s crude oil import bill.
- Further, India also suffers from a glut in sugar production of 6 million tonnes and in sugar season 2020-21, about 2.4 million tonne was diverted to produce 302 litres of ethanol for blending.
- India has set a target of 20% blending rate for 2025.
Is there a catch in flex-fuel technology?
- There is unlikely to be any direct benefit to the consumer.
- Though ethanol costs much lower than petrol at ₹47-64/ltr depending on the sugarcane source, oil marketing companies are expected to pocket the cost differential.
- It is also controlled by the government. So, chances of frequent revision are high.
- On the contrary, the fuel economy is likely to fall by 4-8%.
What are the challenges?
- For mass adoption, an adequate supply of different types of ethanol blends is needed across the country.
- This would have to be in addition to the existing network as current vehicles on the road would have to be supplied with fuel that has only 10% ethanol blending.
- This means significant investment in infra by oil firms.
- At the same time, a constant supply of ethanol would have to be ensured.
- Since this largely comes from sugarcane in India, which is a water-guzzling crop, any drought could have an impact on blending rates.
How do they fit in with carbon neutrality?
- With electrification already on the horizon, flex fuel vehicles are seen as a stop-gap arrangement.
- The benefit for the environment is less as compared to battery EVs or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles of the future.
- With much lower cost of running, they also offer better economy for consumers.
- The Toyota pilot project notwithstanding, there is also resistance from the industry.
- They want to prioritize investments and not get stretched thin between hybrid and battery electric, fuel cell and flex fuel technologies.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Jaiprakash Narayan-JP
Mains level: Not Much
Union Home Minister unveiled a 15-foot statue of Jayaprakash Narayan or JP on his 120th birth anniversary at the socialist icon’s birthplace, Sitab Diara village in Bihar’s Saran district.
Who was Jayaprakash Narayan?
- JP was born in 1902 in Bihar’s Sitab Diara, a village prone to frequent-flooding, after which his family moved to a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Balia district.
- He quit college to join the non-cooperation movement, before going to study at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx.
Political affiliations
- JP returned to India in 1929 and joined the freedom struggle and the Indian National Congress, upon the invitation of Jawaharlal Nehru and drawn by a speech by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
- He went on to become the founding members of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP).
- However after independence took it out of the Congress and formed the Socialist Party, which was merged with J B Kripalani’s Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party to form the Praja Socialist Party.
Dissociation from active politics
- While Nehru was keen on JP joining the Union government, JP sought to distance himself from electoral politics, opting to focus on social causes instead.
- He was disillusioned with political parties and called for communitarian democracy.
- Parties, he believed, were centralized and susceptible to moral and financial corruption.
The JP movement
- Students in Gujarat began demonstrating in late 1973, in response to mounting mess bills.
- The protests became widespread in the state, with workers, teachers and several other groups joining in the movement, calling for a change in government.
- JP saw the youth of Gujarat that had been able to bring about political change as an alternative route from electoral.
- The protests against corruption grew widespread, and students of Bihar began their movement in March 1974.
- The students approached JP, who left his self-imposed political exile and led the movement. At a rally in Patna he called for Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution).
Opposition to the Emergency
- When Indira Gandhi imposed an Emergency on June 25, 1975, JP shifted his focus to opposing the authoritarian rule and opposition parties looked to him for leadership.
- The Socialists were naturally drawn to him ideologically, while the RSS and its political front the Jana Sangh sought to return to the mainstream, and were happy to be dissolved into the Janata Party that JP had formed.
- JP is celebrated for launching a popular, mass movement against the Indira Gandhi government, which led to the formation of the Janata Party government in the 1977 general election.
- This was the first non-Congress government in the country.
Try this PYQ:
Who among the following were the founders of the “Hind Mazdoor Sabha” established in 1948?
(a) B. Krishna Pillai, E.M.S. Namboodiripad and K.C. George
(b) Jayaprakash Narayan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay and M.N. Roy
(c) C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, K. Kamaraj and Veeresalingam Pantulu
(d) Ashok Mehata, T.S. Ramanujan and G.G. Mehta
Post your answers here.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sloth Bear
Mains level: NA
The first World Sloth Bear Day was observed yesterday to generate awareness and strengthen conservation efforts around the unique bear species endemic to the Indian subcontinent.
Sloth Bear
- The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) is an important species and endemic to the Indian subcontinent with small populations in Nepal and Sri Lanka.
- Classified as “vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List, sloth bears are endemic to the Indian sub-continent and 90% of the species population is found in India.
- Listed under Schedule I of the (Wildlife Protection) Act of India, 1972, the species has the same level of protection as tigers, rhinos and elephants.
- Commercial international trade of the sloth bear (including parts and derivatives) is prohibited as it is listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
- The sloth bears are omnivorous and survived on termites, ants and fruits.
Why protect sloth bears?
- For a long time, sloth bears were exploited as dancing bears. Though the practice has been banned there are still a few cases of rescue.
- Sloth bears are one of the most aggressive extant due to large human populations often closely surrounding reserves that hold bears.
- Aggressive encounters and attacks are relatively frequent, though in some places, attacks appear to be a reaction to encountering people accidentally.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Right to Information
Mains level: Read the attached story
A good 17 years after India got the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the transparency regime in the country remains a mirage with nearly 3.15 lakh complaints and appeals pending with 26 information commissions across India.
RTI Pendency in India
- According to a report by Satark Nagrik Sangathan, the backlog of appeals or complaints is increasing in commissions every year.
- The number of appeals and complaints pending in 2021 was 2,86,325 with data from 26 commissions and in 2022, it was 3,14,323.
- The highest number of pending cases was in Maharashtra at 99,722, followed by UP at 44,482, Karnataka at 30,358, the Central Information Commission at 26,724 and Bihar at 21,346.
What is the Right to Information?
- RTI is an act of the parliament that sets out the rules and procedures regarding citizens’ right to information.
- It replaced the former Freedom of Information Act, 2002.
- Under the provisions of RTI Act, any citizen of India may request information from a “public authority” (a body of Government or “instrumentality of State”) which is required to reply expeditiously or within 30.
- In case of a matter involving a petitioner’s life and liberty, the information has to be provided within 48 hours.
- The Act also requires every public authority to computerize their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.
What led to the introduction of RTI in India?
There has been a variety of internal and external pressures on governments to adopt RTI.
- Corruption and scandals: The crisis was brought into force due to a lack of transparency in the working of the government.
- Modernization and the Information Society: The expansion of the Internet into everyday life has increased the demand for more information by the public, businesses and civil society groups.
- International pressure: The World Bank, the IMF and others have pressed countries to adopt laws to reduce corruption and to make financial systems more accountable.
- Wider recognition of Public Interest: Public interest is a nebulous concept, not defined in any freedom of information laws, understandably so, as it is a very subjective concept.
Governing of the RTI
The Right to information in India is governed by two major bodies:
- Central Information Commission (CIC) – Chief Information commissioner who heads all the central departments and ministries- with their own public information officers (PIO)s. CICs are directly under the President of India.
- State Information Commissions (SIC)– State Public Information Officers or SPIOs head over all the state department and ministries. The SPIO office is directly under the corresponding State Governor.
State and CIC are independent bodies and CIC has no jurisdiction over the SIC.
(1) Central Information Commission
- The Commission consists of a Chief Information Commissioner and not more than ten Information Commissioners.
- At present (2019), the Commission has six Information Commissioners apart from the Chief Information Commissioner.
- They are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the PM as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM.
- The CIC/IC shall hold office for such term as prescribed by the Central Government or until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. They are not eligible for reappointment.
Power and functions
- It is the duty of the Commission to receive and inquire into a complaint from any person regarding information request under RTI, 2005.
- The Commission can order an inquiry into any matter if there are reasonable grounds (suo-moto power).
- While inquiring, the Commission has the powers of a civil court in respect of summoning, requiring documents etc.
(2) State Information Commission
- The Commission consists of a State Chief Information Commissioner and ten State Information Commissioners.
- They are appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the committee consisting of the CM as Chairperson, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and a state Cabinet Minister nominated by the CM.
- They should be a person of eminence in public life and should not hold any other office of profit or connected with any political party or carrying on any business or pursuing any profession.
- Terms of service are similar to that of CIC.
Constitutional backing of the RTI
- The Indian constitution has an impressive array of basic and inalienable rights termed as fundamental rights contained in part-III.
- These include the right to equal protection of the laws and the right to equality before the law, the right to freedom of speech and expression also the right to life and personal liberty.
- Since RTI, is implicit in the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution, it is an implied FR.
- These are backed by the right to constitutional remedies that is, the right to approach the supreme court and high court under Article 32 and 226 respectively in case of infringement of any of FRs.
- The state is not only under an obligation to respect the FRs of the citizens but also equally under an obligation to ensure conditions under which the right can be exercised.
- The objective of the right to information act is to protect these constitutional rights.
Benefits of RTI
- Greater accessibility of information: A person can seek information from any public authority in the form of copies, floppy disks, sample material etc under RTI.
- Efficient governance: RTI Act helps us in knowing the efficiency of the government functioning.RTI has become a reality consistent with the objectives of having a stable, honest, transparent and efficient government.
- Citizen’s participation: Information under RTI can be sought easily by requesting the public officer and assistant public officer in any public authority.
- Government obligation: Obtaining information from any public authority is obligatory for them.
- Maintenance of public record: Under RTI Act, it is the duty of public authorities to maintain records for easy access and to publish within 120 days the name of the particular officers who should give the information and in regard to the framing of the rules, regulations etc.
- Empowerment of Citizens: Every citizen has been empowered to be informed about anything that affects their life directly or indirectly.
Limitations to the RTI
- Not an absolute right: The RTI and Right to Privacy are not absolute rights, both the rights, one of which falls under Article 19(l)(a) and the other under Article 21 can obviously be regulated, restricted and curtailed in the larger public interest.
- Subjected to restrictions: The RTI, being integral part of the right to freedom of speech, is subject to restrictions that can be imposed upon that right under Article 19 (2).
- Limitations under the rules: Rule 4 of RTI Act puts word limit (No. of words needed in different language is different to express the same idea) as 250 words. Word Limit, The Hidden power of Information Officer, is the cause of rejection of an application.
- Only information already available on record is accessible: The RTI Act provides access only to that information that existent and is available in records of the public authorities.
- Certain information may constitute contempt of court: Any information, the disclosure of which is expressly barred by any Court of law or tribunal or, which may constitute contempt of Court under the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, cannot be released.
- Information causes a breach of privilege: The Constitution of India provides some privileges to the Parliament and the State Legislature, so it is clear that such information cannot be issued by the public authority.
- Information relating to Intellectual Property and trade secrets: Any information, including commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property cannot be disclosed.
Challenges in exercising RTI
- Information explosion: Different types of information is sought which has no public interest and sometimes can be used to misuse the law and harass the public authorities e.g. asking for desperate and voluminous information.
- Popular (mis)use: Some chauvinists file RTI to attain publicity. It is often used as a vindictive tool to harass or pressurize the already burdened public authorities.
- Rising cases of non-disclosure: Some provisions of Indian Evidence Act provide to hold the disclosure of documents. Similar is the case with the Official Secrets Act, 1923.
- Limited ambit of RTI: While the office of the CJI is now under the RTI’s ambit, the CBI is exempt.
- Threats to whistleblowers: There are rising cases of intimidation, threat and murders of RTI activists. There are no safeguards against the victimisation of the person who makes the complaint.
Significance of RTI
- The RTI Act, 2005 did not create a new bureaucracy for implementing the law. Instead, it tasked and mandated officials in every office to change their attitude and duty from one of secrecy to one of sharing and openness.
- RTI has been seen as the key to strengthening participatory democracy and ushering in people-centred governance.
- Access to information has empowered the poor and the weaker sections of society to demand and get information about public policies and actions, thereby leading to their welfare.
- It showed an early promise by exposing wrongdoings at high places, such as in the organisation of the Commonwealth Games, and the allocation of 2G spectrum and coal blocks.
Way Forward
It is well recognized that RTI is pathbreaking, but has not proved sufficient, to improve governance in its capacity due to various shortcomings. We need to improvise a lot on various parameters as discussed under:
- Speedy disposal: The increasing backlog of cases is exacerbated by the fact that most Commissions are functioning at reduced capacity. The government must ensure the timely appointment of chiefs and members of ICs.
- Prioritization of cases: There should be a prioritization of cases dealing with information related to life and liberty. Information regarding matters like food distribution, social security, health and other priority issues should be proactively disclosed.
- Digitalization: Governments should put in place a mechanism for online filing of RTI applications and bring all authorities under one platform.
- Reducing technicalities: The technicalities of filing an RTI application should be more simplified. The literacy rate of rural India is quite low and thus they find it quite difficult to comply with the procedural.
- Protecting whistleblowers: There is an urgent need to protect the whistle blowers who are targeted or attacked so easily. The impending bill should be passed or else an ancillary strict measure should be taken in this regard.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Mission Millets
Mains level: Mission Millets .Advantages of Millets Crop
Context
- International Year of Millets in 2023 was approved by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2018 and the United Nations General Assembly has declared the year 2023 as the International Year of Millets. The Odisha Government had launched Odisha Millet Mission (OMM), which aims to bring millets back to its fields and food plates by encouraging farmers to grow the crops that traditionally formed a substantial part of the diet and crop system in tribal areas.
Importance of millets
- Nutrition rich: Millet is a good source of protein, fibre, key vitamins, and minerals. The potential health benefits of millet include protecting cardiovascular health, preventing the onset of diabetes, helping people achieve and maintain a healthy weight, and managing inflammation in the gut.Millet is fibrous in content, has magnesium, Niacin (Vitamin B3), is gluten-free and has a high protein content.
- Requires less water: Millet’s comprise a significant staple in the semiarid tropic and guarantee food and nutritional security for needy individuals, who can’t develop other food crops because of poor rainfall and soil fertility. They are profoundly nutritious and are utilized by people in the rural area.
- Requires Moderate fertile soils: They can grow in low to medium fertile soils and in areas of low rainfall. Jowar, Bajra, and Ragi are the significant Millet’s developed in India.
- Profitable crop: Millets are the good choice for farmers to achieve primary goals of Farming e.g., profit, versatility, and manageability.
- Drought resistant and sustainable: Millet’s are the ‘marvel grains’ of the future as they are drought resistant which need few external inputs. Due to its high resistance against harsh conditions, millets are sustainable to the environment, to the farmer growing it, and provide cheap and high nutrient options for all.
- Long shelf life: Nearly 40 percent of the food produced in India is wasted every year. Millets do not get destroyed easily, and some of the millets are good for consumption even after 10-12 years of growing, thus providing food security, and playing an important role in keeping a check on food wastage.
What is Odisha Millet mission (OMM) and its impact?
- Promotion of millets: OMM promotes production and consumption of seven millets. But so far, focus has been on ragi, which has accounted for 86 per cent of the total area under millets, according to data on the OMM website. In contrast, little millet, foxtail millet, sorghum, pearl millet, kodo millet and barnyard millet cover less than 13 per cent of the area.
- Non ragi millets: Mission aimed at looking for high-yielding seeds for non-ragi millets. Farmers are urged to plant some non-ragi millets
- Limited procurement: In 2020-21, the state government procured slightly more than 20 million kg of ragi. However, this accounts for only 27 per cent of the total ragi produced, as OMM procures only 500 kg of ragi per ha and leaves the rest for farmers to consume.
- Millets in diet for complete nutrition: This practice has prompted farmers to consume more millets in all seasons, shows a mid-term evaluation by NCDS in 2019-20. But given that average yield is 1,500 kg per ha, much of the produce does not get procured and farmers are forced to sell it at distressed rate. OMM officials also admit that despite ragi being distributed in PDS and as a mix through anganwadi centres in two districts, its consumption has not picked up in a significant manner.
- Diverse products of Millets: OMM also sells millet products, such as cookies, savoury snacks, vermicelli and processed millets, under a brand called “Millet Shakti” through food trucks, cafés, kiosks and other outlets.
- Food processing chain using SHGs: Women self-help groups (SHGs) have been kept at the centre of the programme. They do not just pay a major role in manufacturing biological inputs to improve millet yields and undertake processing of the produce, but also operate the millet-based cafés and outlets.The full potential of SHGs, though, has not yet been realised. So far, only three women’s SHGs manufacture and process Millet Shakti products, which limits the volume available, income generated, and consumption.
- Market linkage by FPOs: OMM also leverages farmer-producer organisations (FPOs) to provide better marketing linkages. Until now, OMM has tapped into existing FPOs to sell processed millets in the open market or aggregate produce for Tribal Development Co-operative Corporation of Odisha Limited; if a block does not have an FPO, an SHG or community group is registered as one.
- Current status of FPO’S: Currently, there are 76 FPOs under OMM. But some of them are engaged only in minor processing and aggregation, without plans of scaling up market linkages. Encouraging FPOs with better incentives and benefit-sharing will help them compete in the market
What are other government efforts to promote millet crops?
- Smart food campaign: Smart Food with the tagline ‘good for you, good for the planet and good for the smallholder farmer’ is an initiative that will initially focus on popularising millets, and sorghum and has been selected by LAUNCH Food as one of the winning innovations for 2017.
- Popularising the millets: Smart Food will be taken forward as a partnership and many organisations have already teamed up to popularise millets. In India, this includes Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR), National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA).
Conclusion
- One way to double farm incomes and encourage farm diversification is to make millet production attractive by introducing millet cultivation in areas where farmers’ distress is visible.Dedicated programmes with proper training and capacity-building initiatives that urge farmers to move away from loss-making crops toward diversification via millets can be a timely method to pull farmers away from the region’s distress.
Mains Question
Q.why millets cultivation is suitable for geographic conditions of India? Analyse the various efforts by government to promote the millets.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Space technology Developments
Mains level: Space,Space security and Sustainability.
Context
- World Space Week this year is themed around ‘Space and Sustainability’. Among other things, the 2022 theme seeks to specifically inspire focus on the challenges the world faces to keep space safe and sustainable.
What is mean by Space?
- Space is an almost perfect vacuum, nearly void of matter and with extremely low pressure. In space, sound doesn’t carry because there aren’t molecules close enough together to transmit sound between them. Not quite empty, bits of gas, dust and other matter floats around “emptier” areas of the universe, while more crowded regions can host planets, stars and galaxies.
- From our Earth-bound perspective, outer space is most often thought to begin about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level at what is known as the Kármán line. This is an imaginary boundary at an altitude where there is no appreciable air to breathe or scatter light. Passing this altitude, blue starts to give way to black because oxygen molecules are not in enough abundance to make the sky blue.
What is mean by Space sustainability?
- Space sustainability is ensuring that all humanity can continue to use outer space for peaceful purposes and socioeconomic benefit now and in the long term. This will require international cooperation, discussion, and agreements designed to ensure that outer space is safe, secure, and peaceful.
What necessitate the sustainable space technology debate?
- Mounting challenge of Space debris: Challenges are endless in both quantitative and qualitative terms, i.e., they are several and severe, ranging from satellite crowding and collision risk to space debris in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
- Ever increasing satellites: The sense of urgency around space sustainability is already skyrocketing—more than 80 countries currently contribute to the over 6,800 active satellites in orbit, of which many are used for both civilian and military purposes, as well as over 30,000 pieces of orbital debris.
- Militarization of space: Given the development of new and emerging space technologies, the rapid militarisation and securitisation of space, and the growing distrust amongst nations in the domain, space activity is only set to increase and acquire a more national security-oriented focus.
- Large scale Development of ASAT: This is already visible in several countries around the world. There has been a recent uptick in the development and testing of destructive anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons, with 26 tests in the past two decades conducted by the four countries that have access to these weapons (US, Russia, China, and India).
- Massive investment into military space capability: France, which is currently leading the European Council, has also invested several billion euros into military space capabilities, and regularly emphasises the security importance of space for other EU countries.
- Increasing Defence space commands: Australia set up its Defence Space Command in early 2022 to increase its strategic potential in space, and South Korea deployed a spy satellite to better monitor North Korea in June 2022, giving its military space plan a huge push.
- However, none of these countries have a sustainability provision in their defence space operations or programmes.
- Dichotomy in Security and sustainability: Sustainability and security are two sides of the same coin, but as a result of this inherent dichotomy, they are often juxtaposed against each other.
- Keeping Security is the priority: The contrast between highly motivated and funded national security efforts and the relatively non-prioritised international engagements around space sustainability is an example of a larger trend of indifference towards sustainable development in favour of higher military spending.
- SDG on backburner: To substantiate this point, funding for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was adversely affected due to COVID-19 in 2021, and this reportedly dramatically pushed back progress on the SDGs, but the global military expenditure has consistently been on an upward incline and crossed the US$2 trillion mark for the first time in the same year.
- Securitization of space: The trade-off between security and sustainability can jeopardise sustainable development within a plethora of issue domains, thus, increasing the likelihood of exhausting limited resources. This in turn could exacerbate the risk of conflict due to the resulting scarce resources, ultimately creating a vicious cycle of securitisation and conflict.
- Rat race in Space : As a case in point, the incumbent space race has always been marked by competing security and commercial interests, which has resulted in a constant escalation of global government spending on space programmes to its record value of US$98 billion in 2021. Space sustainability, on the other hand, has only seen activity recently, and primarily in an international and voluntary set-up.
What regulations are needed for Sustainable Space?
- Prioritising peaceful use of space: A Working Group on the Long-term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities was set up by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) in 2010, which has 95 UN member states taking part in it. The Group adopted a set of guidelines by consensus in 2019, although it failed to make these guidelines or any other regulations legally binding. It agreed to work over it for 5 years from 2022 onwards, but since the Group uses a consensus-based approach to reach agreements, it is difficult to expect more stringent or extensive regulatory frameworks to emerge from it.
- Consensus is difficult but necessary: Consensus-based approaches in multilateral forums, especially related to arms or other security objectives, often contrast with individual national security interests of its member states and have been criticised for their slow or ineffective progress.
- Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons: Another example of this is the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons’ (CCW) Group of Government Experts (GGE) meetings on lethal autonomous weapons systems (LAWS), which have only produced a set of 11 non-binding guiding principles since deliberations around LAWS began in 2014.
- Space sustainable ratings should be developed: The World Economic Forum, for instance, introduced a new standard called the Space Sustainability Rating (SSR), in 2022, which aims to recognise, reward, and encourage space actors to design and implement sustainable and responsible space missions. It remains to be seen whether countries will respond favourably to tools like the SSR, which are based on a positive reinforcement model, to be more space sustainability-conscious.
Conclusion
- space sustainability is only at the cusp of becoming actionable. When space experts, intergovernmental organisations, or countries themselves conclude that sustainability should be a part of their space mandate, and when they devise possible methods to help achieve this, they cannot do so in a vacuum. Space sustainability should not become the political football like climate change.
Mains Question
Q.What are the threats to sustainable space technology? Comment on various laws, regulations, forums on sustainable space technology.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Holistic decriminalisation Bill
Mains level: Holistic decriminalisation Bill ,advantages and MSME's,Ease of doing business
Context
- The government’s proposal to bring a “holistic decriminalisation” bill in the Winter Session of Parliament, If gets enacted into law, it will be one of India’s greatest reforms since 1991. One of the objectives of this proposed law is to “end harassment and reduce compliance burden on businesses.
What is Holistic decriminalisation Bill?
- A new holistic decriminalisation bill is set to amend burdensome provisions in laws related to businesses.
- Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal said that the Decriminalising sections of various laws will end the harassment faced by businesses and reduce compliance burden. Seeking quick industry feedback on problematic areas that can be covered in the proposed Bill.
What is the status of existing laws in India?
- Burden of Imprisonment clauses: Business regulatory universe comprises 1,536 laws, of which more than half, or 843 laws, carry imprisonment clauses. Under these laws, there are 69,233 compliances businesses face as an aggregate, of which almost two out of five, or 26,134, carry imprisonment clauses.
- Union and state legislations on the compliance: Of the 843 laws with imprisonment clauses, 28.9 percent, or 244 laws, have been enacted by Parliament; the rest by State legislatures and rules. Of the 26,134 compliances that carry imprisonment clauses, a fifth, or 5,239 clauses are situated in Union laws.
- No institutional support for informal sector: Of the 69 million enterprises in India, only 1 million are formal employers; as a result, the remaining informal enterprises get no access to institutional capital, talent, or supply chains.
- Smaller the better attitude: India’s predatory and rent-seeking policy infrastructure ensures that businesses choose to remain under the regulatory radar—small may not be beautiful but it is certainly safe. For instance, a small business with 150 employees or more has to deal with 500 to 900 compliances a year, on which it can end up spending up to INR 12-18 lakhs by hiring consultants to be compliant with labour laws, taxes, factories, and so on.
- Burden of compliance is cost-effective: Creating a regulatory bias against small businesses once a line of scale is crossed, managing a compliance department becomes cost-effective; until then, for the small business owner-manager, compliances becomes a risk-management strategy, almost an economic activity.
Why such reforms in business laws are necessary?
- To attract more investment: When viewed through the lens of the government’s intention to make India an investment destination for global and domestic capital, it would be a reform that should end the endemic of harassment, corruption, and rent-seeking by officials of the Union government.
- To end corruption at state level: Corruption by officials of state governments will end when criminal provisions in State laws and rules get similarly rationalised; some of these will get rationalised with amendments to Union laws that are enforced by state governments.
- Encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit: Regulatory framework is cumulative policy actions of the three arms of the State the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary using instruments of legislations, rules, regulations, or orders, to create or raise barriers to a smooth flow of ideas, organisation, money, and, most importantly, the flow of the entrepreneurial spirit.
What are the recommendations for Holistic decriminalization?
- Amend the overreaching laws: Reform all compliances with overarching legislation, across ministries and departments. Smaller steps being taken to ease doing business in India, such as shifting the responsibility under the Legal Metrology Rules from directors to executives, should converge into this single bill.
- There should be Justifiable imprisonment: Use criminal penalties in business laws with extreme restraint the idea of using a criminal clause as a default option should be done away with and replaced by a justification for imprisonment, including the term in jail.
- Ending the criminalisation: End the criminalisation of all compliance procedures such as filing on a wrong form or mislabelling.
- Introducing new laws: Introduce sunset clauses for all imprisonment clauses this needs a new enabling law as a precursor.
- Bringing extensive Digitisation: Digitise all compliance filings, as has been done by the income tax department.
- Focus on paperless work: Convert every department that acts as a regulatory body to go paperless and faceless. This should look beyond merely creating a website and uploading records. This will enable automated record reconciliation, identify leakages, detect frauds, and flag discrepancies.
- More such steps in the right direction: By reducing the compliance burden such that it ends harassment, the government is moving in the right direction. To prevent any policy holes left after the passage of the bill into an act, this is a law that needs to be studied hard, debated well, and only then enacted. Of course, there will be political opposition. It is up to the government to ignore the rhetoric and embrace the solutions for the greater good of the country.
Conclusion
- The country is getting ready for third-generation reforms. Among them are reforms that rationalise compliances and imprisonment clauses—retain a handful, reduce or remove most, compound the rest and turn physical imprisonment into financial penalties. The Inspector Raj, expressed through the colonial, corrupt, and rent-seeking policy infrastructure, must be disassembled and jobs, wealth, and large enterprises created.
Mains Question
Q. Why current industrial policy and laws are causing the harassment of entreprenuers? Discuss the reforms needed in the light of proposed “ Holistic Discrimination” Bill.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Appointment of CJI
Mains level: Issue of Tenure of CJI
Chief Justice of India U.U. Lalit nominated Justice D.Y. Chandrachud as his successor. He will be 50th CJI.
How is CJI selected?
- Justice U.U. Lalit is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court now.
- The ‘Memorandum of Procedure of Appointment of Supreme Court Judges’ says “appointment to the office of the CJI should be of the seniormost Judge of the SC considered fit to hold the office”.
- The process begins with the Union Law Minister seeking the recommendation of the outgoing CJI about the next appointment.
What is the time frame?
- The Minister has to seek the CJI’s recommendation at the “appropriate time”.
- The Memorandum does NOT elaborate or specify a timeline.
Making final appointment
The Memorandum says:
- Receipt of the recommendation of the CJI
- The Union Minister of Law, Justice and Company Affairs will put up the recommendation to the PM
- PM will advise the President in the matter of appointment
- The President of India appoints the CJI
Chief Justice of India: A brief background
- The CJI is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of India as well as the highest-ranking officer of the Indian federal judiciary.
Appointment
- The Constitution of India grants power to the President to nominate, and with the advice and consent of the Parliament, appoint a chief justice, who serves until they reach the age of 65 or until removed by impeachment.
- Earlier, it was a convention to appoint seniormost judges.
- However, this has been broken twice. In 1973, Justice A. N. Ray was appointed superseding 3 senior judges.
- Also, in 1977 Justice Mirza Hameedullah Beg was appointed as the chief justice superseding Justice Hans Raj Khanna.
Qualifications
The Indian Constitution says in Article 124 (3) that in order to be appointed as a judge in the Supreme Court of India, the person has to fit in the following criteria:
- He/She is a citizen of India and
- has been for at least five years a Judge of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
- has been for at least ten years an advocate of a High Court or of two or more such Courts in succession; or
- is, in the opinion of the President, a distinguished jurist
Functions
- As head of the Supreme Court, the CJI is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law.
- In accordance with Article 145 of the Constitution and the Supreme Court Rules of Procedure of 1966, the chief justice allocates all work to the other judges.
On the administrative side, the CJI carries out the following functions:
- maintenance of the roster; appointment of court officials and general and miscellaneous matters relating to the supervision and functioning of the Supreme Court
Removal
- Article 124(4) of the Constitution lays down the procedure for removal of a judge of the Supreme Court which is applicable to chief justices as well.
- Once appointed, the chief justice remains in the office until the age of 65 years. He can be removed only through a process of removal by Parliament as follows:
- He/She can be removed by an order of the President passed after an address by each House of Parliament supported by a majority of the total membership of that House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present.
- The voting has been presented to the President in the same session for such removal on the ground of proven misbehavior or incapacity.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Swiss Banks
Mains level: Black Money Issue
India has received the fourth set of Swiss Bank account details of its nationals and organizations as part of annual information exchange, under which Switzerland has shared particulars of nearly 34 lakh financial accounts with 101 countries.
How India gets such information?
Ans. Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Agreement
- In an effort to bring in transparency and restrict money laundering, the Swiss Federal Office gives a detailed account of the massive AEOI exchange.
- This is the fourth tranche of information that India has received from Switzerland since the two countries entered into an Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) agreement in January 2018.
- The first such exchange with India took place in 2019.
- Some countries which have been added to the Swiss AEOI list for the first time are Turkey, Peru and Nigeria.
- The Swiss Federal Tax Administration office has also informed that with 74 of these 101 countries, the information exchange was reciprocal.
What is the volume, nature of data?
- In 2019, prior to India receiving its first batch of banking information via the AEOI, India would be among 73 countries that would be receiving the data.
- In India’s case “several dispatches” would be required, giving an indication of the large volume of account holders.
Guidelines for exchange of such sensitive banking information
- The guidelines and parameters for the AEOI are set by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), the Paris-based international body.
- The annual exercise of AEOI exchange, such as the current Swiss bonanza of banking details, is strictly meant for “tax only” purposes and in India.
- This data is kept in the custody of and for action by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
- Under the OECD’s guidelines, details of the quantum of funds or the names of account holders cannot be publicised.
What is the scope of India’s AEOI network?
- Under the OECD umbrella of AEOI, India presently shares bulk financial and banking information with 78 countries.
- It receives the same from 107 countries, with Switzerland known to be sharing some of the most voluminous data.
Institutional mechanism in India
- Primarily to the large volume of FI data coming in from now a 100 countries, the CBDT last year set up a network of Foreign Asset Investigation Units (FAIUs) in 14 of its investigation wings.
- The information of a region which has reached India via the AEOI route is transmitted in a secure manner.
- It is the FAIUs that do the follow-up probe of the such data, and to begin with, investigate whether the taxpayer has declared the foreign bank account/s in tax returns or not.
Why do people park their money in Swiss Banks?
- As wealth became easily mobile across international borders, the safety and stability of Swiss banks, located in a peaceful country presented an irresistible attraction for the super-rich.
- Switzerland itself is a politically neutral country.
- Swiss bank accounts are attractive to depositors because they combine low levels of risk with very high levels of privacy.
- The Swiss economy is extremely stable, and the banks are run at very high levels of professionalism.
- Opening an account is not difficult, and requires not much more than basic KYC, including a proof of identity such as a passport.
Question of Black Money
- “Black money” allegedly stashed away by Indians in Swiss banks is a political issue in India.
- Leaders and political functionaries have often made promises to “bring it back” and credit 15 Lakh Rupees in every Indian’s account.
- Swiss authorities have maintained that they cooperate with the Indian government to fight tax evasion and fraud.
Also read:
What are Swiss Banks?
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Israeli region for mapping
Mains level: Not Much
Israel has reached a US-brokered agreement with Lebanon to settle their long-disputed maritime border. This has been seen as a historic deal.
Israel-Lebanon Boundary Issue
- The draft agreement aims to settle Israel and Lebanon’s competing claims over offshore gas fields in the region.
- A major source of friction was the Karish gas field, which Israel insisted fell entirely within its waters and was not a subject of negotiation.
- The issue is a little over a decade old, after the two countries declared overlapping boundaries in 2011 in the Mediterranean Sea.
- Since both countries have been technically at war, the United Nations was asked to mediate.
- The issue gained significance after Israel discovered two gas fields off its coast a decade ago, which experts had believed could help turn it into an energy exporter.
Key terms of the Agreement
- The agreement seeks to resolve a territorial dispute in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, in an area that Lebanon wants to explore for natural gas.
- The gas field in question is located on the maritime boundary between the two countries and this agreement would allow both countries to get royalties from the gas.
- It also sets a border between the maritime waters of Lebanon and Israel for the first time.
Why is this agreement signed?
- Averting terror threats: The agreement is expected to avert the immediate threat of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon, after fears of escalation if negotiations fell apart.
- Energy exploitation: The agreement will create new sources of energy and income for both countries, particularly important for Lebanon, which is facing a crippling energy and financial crises.
- Alternative energy for Europe: It could also have a potentially wider impact: it would likely provide Europe with a potential new source of gas amid energy shortages caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What the agreement does not address?
Ans. Blue Line Issue
- The agreement does not touch on the shared land border between Israel and Lebanon, which is still disputed, but where both countries are committed to a ceasefire.
- This border is also called the Blue Line, a boundary that was drawn up by the UN after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000.
- This land border is currently patrolled by the United Nations forces.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC)
Mains level: Geospatial technology
PM has inaugurated the second United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress (UNWGIC) in Hyderabad.
What is UNWGIC?
- The first United Nations World Geospatial Information Congress was held in Deqing, Zhejiang Province, China in 2018.
- The United Nation Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) organizes the UNWGIC every four years.
- It is hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of India.
- The objectives are enhancing international collaboration among the Member States and relevant stakeholders in Geospatial information management and capacities.
- The theme of UNWGIC 2022 is ‘Geo-Enabling the Global Village: No one should be left behind’.
Objectives of UNWGIC
- The move aims to provide high-quality and trustworthy geospatial data to support global and national policy agendas.
- It also stresses international cooperation and coordination in the development of human data linked to geography.
- It promotes societal development and well-being, addresses environmental and climate challenges, and embraces digital transformation and technological advancement.
Why collaborate on geospatial technology?
- Geospatial technology can be used to create intelligent maps and models which help to collect geographically referenced data.
- Decisions based on the value and importance of resources, most of which are limited, can become easy through geospatial technology.
- Intelligent maps and models can be created using geospatial technology.
- It can be used to reveal spatial patterns hidden in large amounts of data that are complex to access collectively through mapping.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Human Migration: Reasons and Impact
Context
- India has used Aadhaar (digital identity) and UPI (digital payments) extensively to address the challenges of identification and financial inclusion in social protection delivery, particularly in the case of migrants.
Who is a migrant worker?
- A “migrant worker” is a person who either migrates within their home country or outside it to pursue work.
- Usually, migrant workers do not have the intention to stay permanently in the country or region in which they work.
- As per the census 2011, the total number of internal migrants in India is 36 crore or 37% of the country’s population.
- The Economic Survey pegged the size of the migrant workforce at roughly 20 percent or over 10 crores in 2016.
What are the problems faced by migrants?
- Issues with finding local Employment: Most migrant workers have a seasonal nature of employment. During off-seasons, they struggle to feed their families. Repeated lockdowns made situations more difficult for migrants to find jobs in their localities. They faced travel restrictions which hindered their job search as well.
- Lack of Insurance Benefits in a Pandemic Environment: Migrant workers work in precarious conditions with little wages and no access to government schemes and services. Poor and unsafe working and living conditions make them prone to diseases. Greater threats of occupational illnesses, nutritional diseases, alcoholism, HIV, and communicable diseases are rampant in the migrant workforce.
- Issue of timely and Fair Payment of Wages: The informal workforce in India consists of more than 150.6 million regular and daily wage earners. Most of these workers are unaware of their rights as ‘migrant workers. Many unscrupulous agents coerce them and don’t pay minimum wages as per law.
- Lack of portability of benefits: Migrants registered to claim access to benefits at one location lose access upon migration to a different location. This is especially true of access to entitlements under the PDS. The ration card required to access benefits under the PDS is issued by state governments and is not portable across states. This system excludes inter-state migrants from the PDS unless they surrender their card from the home state and get a new one from the host state.
- Lack of affordable housing: The proportion of migrants in urban population is 47%. In 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs identified migrants in urban areas as the largest population needing housing in cities. There is inadequate supply of low-income ownership and rental housing options.
Government steps for migrant workers
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana: After the lockdown, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana with a financial package of Rs. 1.7 lakh crore was launched to help poor, needy, and unorganized sector workers of the country.
- PM SVANidhi Scheme: PM SVANidhi Scheme was launched to facilitate collateral-free working capital loans up to Rs.10,000/- of one-year tenure, to approximately, 50 lakh street vendors, to resume their businesses.
- Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan: In order to facilitate the employment of migrant workers who have gone back to their home state, Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan was initiated in 116 districts in Mission Mode.
- State migrant cell: Migrant workers’ Cell is being created to prepare a database of migrant workers in states with mapping.
- eShram portal: It is a national database created to register the unorganised workers in the country, including the migrant workers.
- National policy on migrant workers: NITI Aayog has been mandated to prepare a draft national policy on migrant workers to reimagine labour-capital relations while integrating the migrant workers within the formal workforce.
How technology could provide Solutions?
- Providing digital public infrastructure (DPI): Digital public infrastructure systems that enable the effective provision of essential society-wide functions and services can enable a paradigm shift, allowing governments to co-create solutions with the private sector and civil society.
- Adopting Public private partnership models: There are three key areas where DPI can enable public-private partnerships (PPP) in the delivery of social protection of migrants,
- Awareness of entitlements: One barrier faced at the initial stage is lack of awareness of entitlements or of the need to reapply, when migrants move from one state to another. Jan Saathi is an application that provides migrants withinformation on eligible social security schemes. Organisations such as Haqdarshak not only inform potential beneficiaries about their eligibility for various schemes, Central or State, but also help them avail entitlements.
- Information about livelihoods and housing: The informal nature of the labour market makes access to affordable and safe living conditions a challenge, especially if the family migrates as a unit. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairshas introduced the Affordable Rental Housing Complexes under PMAY-Urban but the availability of such facilities is inadequate compared to the number of migrants. Bandhu’s ecosystem of applications connect migrant workers directly with employers and housing providers, to give them more informed choices. Jobsgaar and MyRojgaar also play a similar role by connecting workers to employers.
- Healthy Grievance redressal Mechanism: Gram Vaani bridges the gap in grievance redressal by providing a platform where citizens can use Interactive Voice Response (IVR) to record their grievance in accessing entitlements. Aajeevika Bureau and The Working People’s Charter built the India Labourline to provide legal aid and mediation services to migrant workers.
- Adopting a well-designed data: While a growing ecosystem of private players (NGOs, civil society organisations, not-for-profit and for-profit entities) are addressing these needs, well designed data exchanges can help unlock a strong public-private collaboration in the delivery of social protection.
What more government can do to address the issue of migrants?
- Creating centralized data: The state’s digital efforts are often in siloes and the need to maximize the use of data across schemes and departments is a high priority.
- E-Shram: Initiatives such as direct benefit transfers and linking schemes for the portability of entitlements have shown promise. e-Shram, which is a national database of unorganized workers, aims to reduce access barriers to social protection for migrants.
- Making portable entitlement: Recent announcements of API-based integration of e-Shram with the various state government labor departments and with the One Nation One Ration Card scheme are a step in that direction.
- Working with the private sector: Enabling linkages of migrant data with the private sector can lead to benefits on the demand side, in the form of reduced transaction costs in identifying jobs, affordable housing, and redressal of grievances.
- Engaging the private sector: Private players who have established relationships with these mobile populations can help the state in planning and forecasting the demand for benefits. An example of this is the digital payment ecosystem since the introduction of UPI.
Conclusion
- Digital technologies have potential solutions to problems and transform the livelihood of migrants. The need for adequate data protection and safeguards is essential for the implementation of any such initiative.
Mains Question
Q.Enlist the problem faced by migrant workers? Elaborate on how use of technology can solve the many problems of migrants.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Urab floods,Urban challenges and solutions
Context
- After flooding of major metropolitan cities of Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Delhi following heavy rainfall, the Centre has pointed to two cities – Davanagere and Agartala – as successful examples of cities that have curbed urban flooding.
Why cities are so important in India?
- Drivers of Growth: Urbanisation has played and will continue to play a critical role in India’s growth story in the 21st century.
- Cities are seen as GDP multipliers: By some estimates, Indian cities already contribute up to 70% of the country’s GDP. Yet, depending on which official estimates you use, India is just 26% or 31% urban. But there is growing evidence that India is more urban than is officially recognized.
- Cities have more productivity: Well-functioning and diverse cities allow for the sharing and cross-pollination of ideas, which in turn drive greater productivity.
- Lack of Planning: current urban planning policies and practice have led to suboptimal use of land in Indian cities. This has multiple consequences. There is not enough floor space for accommodating migrants in search of economic opportunities; they make space for themselves in informal settlements. There is also not enough land in the public domain for developing adequate open spaces or augmenting infrastructure capacities.
- Lack of Housing:The pandemic revealed that the cities’ economies rely on migrant populations in the formal and informal sectors. Workers in both markets move from rural to urban and urban to urban areas as they find better opportunities; they are mobile and need adequate rental options. Today, in most Indian cities, this demand is not met and leads to unaffordable options, pushing the poorer sections out to slums and other informal settlements.
- Lack of Transport: Indian cities are infamous for their road congestion; three of them rank in the 10 most congested in the world according to the 2020 TomTom Travel Index with Mumbai ranking second. The existing public transportation systems are already overcrowded and of poor quality.
- Lack of Public health: Like other health crises, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the need to ensure adequate healthcare services and sanitation infrastructure for a healthy population in cities. In the initial months of the outbreak, the focus of health services shifted entirely towards addressing the novel coronavirus, leaving other health issues unaddressed and shutting down routine care services.
- Impact on Environment: The causes for low air quality are multiple; vehicular movement and on-road congestion are major contributors. A safe and clean environment is key to good public health.
- Problems faced by vulnerable sections: The economic shock and work from home guidelines changed migration patterns; workers in cities returned to their home towns and villages. Slum dwellers, with limited access to adequate infrastructure, and migrant workers, disenfranchised from social protection systems or daily wagers, were more vulnerable to this shock. In the medium and long term, it is difficult to predict what the job market will be in cities.
What can be done to address the urban challenges?
- Future planning is necessary: Manage the spatial growth of cities and allow them to build more planned road networks for future horizontal expansion and revoke faulty policies that constrain the use of floor space to build vertically.
- Housing for all scheme is important: Focus on providing public housing for the poor; India can learn from successful models in Singapore or Hong Kong and understand the strategic challenges of other international examples such as Mexico. India can also work toenable efficient rental markets
- Holistic transport should be focused: Integrate formal and informal modes of transportation into holistic transportation strategies to ensure seamless mobility, as well as first and last mile connectivity.
- Increasing funds to Cities: Decentralise fiscal powers to the local level and train city authorities so that they can make more strategic decisions in health expenditures or public health infrastructure, as well as gain the capacity to raise their own resources.
- Need of a healthy Environment: Increase the number of open spaces in the public domain, maintain them and monitor their use. Prepare for disasters with robust framework of physical infrastructures, road networks and large open spaces. Build adequate infrastructure to support the sustainable development of emerging Tier-2 and Tier 3 towns.
- More attention to vulnerable: Develop more systematic identification mechanisms of the urban poor to ameliorate the delivery of public services and social protection. Collect accurate data on migrant population and capture their socio-economic diversity to better address their needs. Monitor access to services, housing and jobs of the vulnerable communities in real time.
Conclusion
- Urban infrastructure is crumbling day by day. In the next 25 years, cities will have more population than rural areas. Indian cities need urgent reform in order to unlock their economic potential and transform quality of life.
Mains Question
Q.Discuss the urban infrastructure challenges? What are the governments scheme and actions to address the urbanization challenges?
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Critical Minerals,rare earth minerals
Mains level: critical minerals and applications ,Aatmanirbharta in Energy security.
Context
- In his Independence Day address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted the country to pursue aatmanirbhar bharta in energy by focusing on clean energy technologies. Securing access to key critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and rare earth metals is critical for building resilient and indigenous supply chains for clean energy technologies.
Background
- Concerns over the pricing and availability of oil and gas in the wake of the Ukraine crisis continue to fuel global policy debates on energy security. However, the fragility of clean energy supply chains obscures pathways for countries to reduce dependence on fossil fuel.
- Imported inflationary pressures through exposure to volatile oil and gas markets also pose risks to macroeconomic growth and stability, particularly for India, import dependent for around 85% of its oil and half of its gas needs.
What are Critical Minerals?
- Critical minerals are elements that are the building blocks of essential modern-day technologies, and are at risk of supply chain disruptions.
- These minerals are now used everywhere from making mobile phones, computers to batteries, electric vehicles and green technologies like solar panels and wind turbines.
- Based on their individual needs and strategic considerations, different countries create their own lists.
- However, such lists mostly include graphite, lithium, cobalt, rare earths and silicon which is a key mineral for making computer chips, solar panels and batteries.
- Aerospace, communications and defence industries also rely on several such minerals as they are used in manufacturing fighter jets, drones, radio sets and other critical equipment.
Why is this resource critical?
- As countries around the world scale up their transition towards clean energy and digital economy, these critical resources are key to the ecosystem that fuels this change.
- Any supply shock can severely imperil the economy and strategic autonomy of a country over-dependent on others to procure critical minerals.
- But these supply risks exist due to rare availability, growing demand and complex processing value chain.
- Many times the complex supply chain can be disrupted by hostile regimes, or due to politically unstable regions.
- They are critical as the world is fast shifting from a fossil fuel-intensive to a mineral-intensive energy system.
What are Rare Earth Metals?
- The rare earth elements (REE) are a set of seventeen metallic elements. These include the fifteen lanthanides on the periodic table plus scandium and yttrium.
- Rare earth elements are an essential part of many high-tech devices.
- They have a wide range of applications, especially high-tech consumer products, such as cellular telephones, computer hard drives, electric and hybrid vehicles, and flat-screen monitors and televisions.
- Significant defense applications include electronic displays, guidance systems, lasers, and radar and sonar systems.
- Rare earth minerals, with names like neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium, are crucial to the manufacture of magnets used in industries of the future, such as wind turbines and electric cars.
Applications of REMs in various fields:
- Electronics: Television screens, computers, cell phones, silicon chips, monitor displays, long-life rechargeable batteries, camera lenses, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), baggage scanners, marine propulsion systems.
- Defense Sector: Rare earth elements play an essential role in our national defense. The military uses night-vision goggles, precision-guided weapons, communications equipment, GPS equipment, batteries, and other defense electronics. These give the United States military an enormous advantage. Rare earth metals are key ingredients for making the very hard alloys used in armored vehicles and projectiles that shatter upon impact.
- Renewable Energy: Solar panels, Hybrid automobiles, wind turbines, next-generation rechargeable batteries, bio-fuel catalysts.
- Manufacturing: High strength magnets, metal alloys, stress gauges, ceramic pigments, colorants in glassware, chemical oxidizing agent, polishing powders, plastics creation, as additives for strengthening other metals, automotive catalytic converters
- Medical Science: Portable x-ray machines, x-ray tubes, magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) contrast agents, nuclear medicine imaging, cancer treatment applications, and for genetic screening tests, medical and dental lasers.
- Technology: Lasers, optical glass, fiber optics, masers, radar detection devices, nuclear fuel rods, mercury-vapor lamps, highly reflective glass, computer memory, nuclear batteries, high-temperature superconductors.
DO YOU KNOW?
Metals such as cadmium, lead are often used in manufacturing plastic and over time can enter coastal waters. These are acutely harmful for coastal wildlife and humans.Different kinds of plastic releases different kinds of metals that may release when exposed to water and UV lights.
- Deposits in geopolitically sensitive regions: Reserves are often concentrated in regions that are geopolitically sensitive or fare poorly from an ease of doing business perspective.
- Controlled production: A portion of existing production is controlled by geostrategic competitors. For example, China wields considerable influence in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo through direct equity investments and its Belt and Road Initiative.
- Agreements in advance from outside: Future mine production is often tied up in off take agreements, in advance, by buyers from other countries to cater to upcoming demand.
A step taken by Indian government for sourcing strategic minerals
- For sourcing of strategic minerals, the Indian government established Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL) in 2019 with the mandate to secure mineral supply for the domestic market.
What is Khanij Bidesh India Limited (KABIL)?
- Joint venture: A joint venture company namely Khanij Bidesh India Ltd. (KABIL) set up with the participation of three Central Public Sector Enterprises namely, National Aluminium Company Ltd.(NALCO), Hindustan Copper Ltd.(HCL) and Mineral Exploration Company Ltd. (MECL).
- Objective: The objective of constituting KABIL is to ensure a consistent supply of critical and strategic minerals to Indian domestic market. While KABIL would ensure mineral security of the Nation, it would also help in realizing the overall objective of import substitution.
Suggestions based on Council on energy environment and water (CEEW) to achieve the objective of KABIL
- Mapping out the domestic requirement: Figure out the mineral requirements of the domestic industry. This could best be accomplished by a task force which includes the ministries of power, new and renewable energy, heavy industry, and science and technology.
- Clear road map for indigenous manufacturing: Five year road maps with clear targets for deployment and indigenous manufacturing across clean energy applications would provide visibility to domestic investors. Assess the technology mix that would support this deployment. On this basis, determine the quantities of minerals necessary to support indigenous manufacturing.
- Better coordination between different stakeholders: Coordinate with the domestic industry to determine where strategic interventions by the government would be necessary for the purpose.KABIL could collaborate with industry to bolster its market intelligence capabilities for tracking global supply side developments.
- Preemptive agreements through KABIL for reliable supply: If conducive investment opportunities don’t exist KABIL should preemptively sign off take agreements with global mineral suppliers to secure future production. It could aggregate reliable supply of minerals for domestic requirements and sign back to back sales agreements with the domestic industry .Such large scale centralised national procurement could be done at preferential terms.
- Joint Investment In mining assets to mitigate investment risks: The government should jointly invest in mining assets with geostrategic partners. KABIL should make equity investments in mining jurisdictions that private sector investors may deem too risky. It should leverage government to government partnerships to mitigate investment risks. This could be done through joint investments with sovereign entities from geostrategic partners or private sector entities with expertise in specific geographies.
- Finding the alternatives: Technologies such as sodium ion batteries could reduce requirements for sourcing minerals from beyond India’s borders. It could also propose co development of such technologies with geostrategic partners.
- Developing policies on sustainable urban mining and recycling: Develop policies on urban mining aimed at recycling mineral inputs from deployments that have completed their useful life. These could help further reduce dependence on international sourcing.
Conclusion
- Besides Ukraine, other potential geopolitical flash points also exist against a backdrop of dwindling multilateral cooperation. India must act immediately and decisively to mitigate these risks to its energy security.
Mains Question
Q.What are critical minerals? Why the critical minerals are so important? What steps India can take to achieve the objective of Atmanirbhar Bharat in domestic mineral supply and thereby mitigating energy security risks?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Nobel Prize
Mains level: Not Much
The Nobel Prize for Economics in 2022 was awarded to Ben S Bernanke, Douglas W Diamond and Philip H Dybvig for research on banks and financial crises.
Do you know?
- The economics prize is not one of the original five awards created in the 1895 will of industrialist and dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel.
- It was established by Sweden’s central bank and first awarded in 1969, its full and formal name being the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.
Why was the Nobel given to these three scholars?
- The research of the three laureates has helped us understand the role of banks in the economy, particularly during financial crises.
- Their research shows why avoiding a bank collapse is very important for the economy.
Which bank did these scholars study?
- In 1656, the then-king of Sweden approved the foundation of Sweden’s first bank, the Stockholms Banco, which also became the first bank to issue banknotes in Europe.
- However, Banco over-issued notes leading to its liquidation in 1667.
- In 1668, the Swedish Nobles decided to found the Riksens Standers Bank, which was later renamed as Sveriges Riksbank in 1867.
- In 1968, on its tercentenary, the Sveriges Riksbank decided to award the economics prize in memory of Alfred Nobel.
- The award itself was the result of an ongoing crisis and conflict between the central bank and the government.
- The purpose of mentioning this history is to highlight how failures are central to banks.
- Banks have failed ever since they were created.
What does Ben Bernanke say about banking crises?
- In the 1930s, the world economy faced a serious economic contraction called the Great Depression.
- For many years, it was thought the Great Depression was due to a lack of policy stimulus.
- The economist John Maynard Keynes had argued that monetary policy was ineffective in such crises as interest rates could not go lower than zero percent, and one needed a large fiscal stimulus.
- Milton Friedman argued that central banks could create money even when interest rates were zero by buying assets, thereby increasing the money supply.
Reasons behind the crisis
- Bernanke said that while a lack of policy stimulus explains the contraction, it does not explain why the Great Depression continued for such a long time.
- The economic contraction had led to a large number of bank failures.
- His argument was that it was this large-scale failure of banks which prolonged the crisis.
- Banks were not in a position to channel loans towards productive activities, leading to the crisis becoming more severe in the US.
How is bank failure attributed to the financial crisis?
- Banks have special insights into companies, and when a bank fails, all this information is lost.
- A failed banking system takes many years to repair and the economy performs very poorly in this period.
- This explains why the Great Depression became such a prolonged crisis.
- Bernanke drew his analysis from a deep understanding of economic and monetary history.
- This prize also shows the importance of history, which is becoming rarer in economic research.
What are Diamond’s and Dybvig’s insights into banking crises?
- Bernanke explained what happens when banks fail. But Diamond and Dybvig explained why banks fail.
- In joint research, hence called the Diamond-Dybvig model, they explain that banks fail when depositors rush for their money.
- In their model, banks are seen as financial intermediaries that intermediate funds from depositors to loan seekers.
- The deposits are for shorter durations whereas loans are typically given for longer durations (technically called the maturity transformation function of banks).
- The banks are seen as entities that help savers meet investors, and by channeling loans towards good projects, banks help an economy grow.
How bank failure is related to depositors?
- Banks are prone to runs by depositors.
- In their research, they show that once there is a rumor about a bank’s weakness, it spreads like wildfire, causing a bank run, when depositors literally run for their funds to the bank.
- As banks lend most of the funds towards long-term projects, the loans cannot be recalled easily to repay the depositors.
- If the rumor is not addressed, it leads to eventual bank failure.
Is it Nobel-worthy?
- While many know this is basically how banks fail, the prize-winning duo formalized the model.
- They also presented a solution for bank failures via deposit insurance, which was also introduced before their research.
- In 1933, the US was the first country to adopt deposit insurance, followed by India in 1962.
- Both adopted deposit insurance after a significant number of banks failed in these countries.
What does the prize mean for Indian banking?
- India has been facing sporadic banking crises from 2013 where few banks failed.
- Bernanke’s research shows how once a crisis starts, it can prolong not just banking problems but also lower economic growth over time.
- Diamond-Dybvig’s research shows how the weak performance of individual banks like the Punjab and Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Bank and Yes Bank lead to runs.
- Such banks need to be bailed out by the government.
- There was also the case of ICICI bank which faced a run in 2008 based on rumours, but the run was stalled by the central bank by issuing a notification assuring the sound health of the bank.
You must know this!
- Economist and former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) chief Raghuram Rajan seemed to have missed out on the award.
- He is a leading scholar on banking and has written many research papers with this year’s awardee, Douglass Diamond.
- The Nobel committee has cited 12 of his research papers, which are a significant contribution to the field of banking.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: INSPACE, NSIL
Mains level: India's space economy
India’s space economy is likely to be worth nearly $13 billion by 2025, with the satellite launch services segment set to witness the fastest growth due to increasing private participation.
About the report
- The report is released by the Indian Space Association (ISpA) and Ernst & Young.
- It says that the growing demand for smaller satellites is set to boost satellite manufacturing in the country.
- It will attract global start-ups in the sector to help incubate space tech companies to India.
Key highlights
- India’s space economy was pegged at $9.6 billion in 2020 and is expected to touch $12.8 billion by 2025.
- In dollar terms, the satellite services and applications segment would be the largest with a turnover of $4.6 billion by 2025, followed by the ground segment at $4 billion.
- Satellite manufacturing stands at $3.2 billion and launch services at $1 billion.
- The launch services segment was pegged at $600 million in 2020 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 13 percent to reach $1 billion by 2025.
Key drivers of this demand
- India has of over 100 space tech start-ups with investments in the segment touching $68 million in 2021.
- The availability of low-cost satellite launch vehicles coupled with mass production will lead to demand from customers around the world.
- Several companies are utilising cutting-edge technologies to develop innovative launch solutions in India.
Where does India stand in the global space market?
- As per SpaceTech Analytics, India is the sixth-largest player in the industry internationally having 3.6% of the world’s space-tech companies (as of 2021).
- US holds the leader’s spot housing 56.4% of all companies in the space-tech ecosystem.
- Other major players include UK (6.5%), Canada (5.3%), China (4.7%) and Germany (4.1%).
- The Indian Space Industry was valued at $7 billion in 2019 and aspires to grow to $50 billion by 2024.
Why does India matter in the global space-tech market?
- The country’s standout feature is its cost-effectiveness.
- India holds the distinction of being the first country to have reached the Mars’ orbit in its first attempt and at $75 million — way cheaper than Western standards.
Future prospects of India’s private ‘Space’
Ans. India may lead in space junk management
- Almost 60-odd start-ups had registered with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) this year.
- A majority of them were dealing in projects related to space debris management.
- As space becomes more congested with satellites, the technology would thus help in managing ‘space junk’ (debris of old spacecraft and satellites).
How is the private sector’s involvement regulated in India?
- In June 2020, the Union government announced reforms in the space sector enabling more private players to provide end-to-end services.
- The central idea was to bring forth a predictable policy and regulatory environment for them and additionally provide access to ISRO facilities and assets to improve their capacities.
(1) Establishment of IN-SPACe
- An announcement for the establishment of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) was made.
- It was mandated the task of promoting, authorising and licensing private players to carry out space activities.
- As an oversight and regulatory body, it is responsible for devising mechanisms to offer sharing of technology, expertise, and facilities free of cost to promote non-government private entities (NGPEs).
- IN-SPACe’s Monitoring and Promotion Directorate oversees NGPE’s activities as per prescribed regulations and reports back in case any corrective actions or resolutions are required.
- ISRO shares its expertise in matters pertaining to quality and reliability protocols, documentation, and testing procedure through IN-SPACe’s ‘interface mechanism’.
(2) Establishment of NSIL
- Additionally, constituted in March 2019, New Space India Ltd (NSIL), is mandated to transfer the matured technologies developed by the ISRO to Indian industries.
- All of them are under the purview of the Ministry of Defence.
- Private sector’s involvement in the long term, as with other commercial sectors, is believed to help spur investment and expertise in the realm which is capital-intensive and demands high technology.
Where does India lack?
Ans. Undisputedly, it is the finances
- The US and Canada were the highest receivers of space-related investment in 2021.
- The US’s space budget was $41 billion in 2021, $23.3 billion of which was focused on NASA.
- India’s total budgetary allocation for FY2022-23 towards the Department of Space was ₹13,700 crore ($172 million).
- Further, as per Tracxn data, funding into the sector’s start-ups (in India) nearly tripled to $67.2 million on a year-over-year basis in 2021.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Collegium system, NJAC
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Supreme Court Collegium has issued an unprecedented statement acknowledging differences between Chief Justice of India and two senior judges over the procedure to select candidates for appointment as apex court judges.
What is the news?
- Two senior judges of the apex court objected to the CJI’s never-before act of circulating his written recommendations among the collegium members for their approval.
- The standard procedure instead is to have adopt across-the-table discussions.
What is the issue over this?
- CJI Lalit is slated to retire on 8
- As per the Supreme Court convention, the outgoing CJI does not hold collegium meetings when the appointment of his successor has already started.
What exactly is the Collegium System?
- The collegium system was born out of years of friction between the judiciary and the executive.
- The hostility was further accentuated by instances of court-packing (the practice of changing the composition of judges in a court), mass transfer of HC judges and two supersessions to the office of the CJI in the 1970s.
- The Three Judges cases saw the evolution of the collegium system.
Evolution: The Judges Cases
- First Judges Case (1981) ruled that the “consultation” with the CJI in the matter of appointments must be full and effective.
- However, it rejected the idea that the CJI’s opinion, albeit carrying great weight, should have primacy.
- Second Judges Case (1993) introduced the Collegium system, holding that “consultation” really meant “concurrence”.
- It added that it was not the CJI’s individual opinion, but an institutional opinion formed in consultation with the two senior-most judges in the Supreme Court.
- Third Judges Case (1998): On a Presidential Reference for its opinion, the Supreme Court, in the Third Judges Case (1998) expanded the Collegium to a five-member body, comprising the CJI and four of his senior-most colleagues.
How does the collegium system work?
- The collegium of the CJI and four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court make recommendations for appointments to the apex court and High Courts.
- The collegium can veto the government if the names are sent back by the latter for reconsideration.
- The basic tenet behind the collegium system is that the judiciary should have primacy over the government in matters of appointments and transfers in order to remain independent.
The procedure followed by the Collegium
Appointment of CJI
- The President of India appoints the CJI and the other SC judges.
- As far as the CJI is concerned, the outgoing CJI recommends his successor.
- In practice, it has been strictly by seniority ever since the supersession controversy of the 1970s.
- The Union Law Minister forwards the recommendation to the PM who, in turn, advises the President.
Other SC Judges
- For other judges of the top court, the proposal is initiated by the CJI.
- The CJI consults the rest of the Collegium members, as well as the senior-most judge of the court hailing from the High Court to which the recommended person belongs.
- The consultees must record their opinions in writing and it should form part of the file.
- The Collegium sends the recommendation to the Law Minister, who forwards it to the Prime Minister to advise the President.
For High Courts
- The CJs of High Courts are appointed as per the policy of having Chief Justices from outside the respective States. The Collegium takes the call on the elevation.
- High Court judges are recommended by a Collegium comprising the CJI and two senior-most judges.
- The proposal, however, is initiated by the Chief Justice of the High Court concerned in consultation with two senior-most colleagues.
- The recommendation is sent to the Chief Minister, who advises the Governor to send the proposal to the Union Law Minister.
Does the Collegium recommend transfers too?
- Yes, the Collegium also recommends the transfer of Chief Justices and other judges.
- Article 222 of the Constitution provides for the transfer of a judge from one High Court to another.
- When a CJ is transferred, a replacement must also be simultaneously found for the High Court concerned. There can be an acting CJ in a High Court for not more than a month.
- In matters of transfers, the opinion of the CJI “is determinative”, and the consent of the judge concerned is not required.
- However, the CJI should take into account the views of the CJ of the High Court concerned and the views of one or more SC judges who are in a position to do so.
- All transfers must be made in the public interest, that is, “for the betterment of the administration of justice”.
Loopholes in the Collegium system
- Lack of Transparency: Opaqueness and a lack of transparency, and the scope for nepotism are cited often.
- Judges appointing Judge: The attempt made to replace it with a ‘National Judicial Appointments Commission’ was struck down by the court in 2015 on the ground that it posed a threat to the independence of the judiciary.
- Criteria: Some do not believe in full disclosure of reasons for transfers, as it may make lawyers in the destination court chary of the transferred judge. It has even been accused of nepotism.
Way ahead
- In respect of appointments, there has been an acknowledgment that the “zone of consideration” must be expanded to avoid criticism that many appointees hail from families of retired judges.
- The status of a proposed new memorandum of procedure, to infuse greater accountability, is also unclear.
- Even the majority of opinions admitted the need for transparency, now Collegiums’ resolutions are now posted online, but reasons are not given.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Mental healthcare in India
10th October, yesterday was observed as World Mental Health Day.
What is the news?
- The Lancet released a new report calling for radical action to end stigma and discrimination in mental health.
- It stated that 90% of people living with mental health conditions feel negatively impacted by stigma and discrimination.
Mental Illness in India
- Mental disorders are now among the top leading causes of health burden worldwide, with no evidence of global reduction since 1990.
- In 2017, an estimation of the burden of mental health conditions for the states across India revealed that as many as 197.3 million people required care for mental health conditions.
- This included around 45.7 million people with depressive disorders and 44.9 million people with anxiety disorders.
- The situation has been exacerbated due to the Covid-19 pandemic, making it a serious concern the world over.
Reasons for Persistence of Mental Illness
- Stigma to seek help: The staggering figures are void of millions of others directly, or indirectly impacted by the challenge and those who face deep-rooted stigma, many times rendering them unable to seek help.
- Lack of awareness: This growing challenge in dealing with mental health issues is further compounded by a lack of information and awareness, self-diagnosis, and stigma.
- Psycho-social factors: Institutions like gender, race, and ethnicity, are also responsible for mental health conditions.
- Post-Treatment gap: There is a need for proper rehabilitation of mentally ill persons post/her treatment which is currently not present.
- Rise in Severity: Mental health problems tend to increase during economic downturns, therefore special attention is needed during times of economic distress.
Need for immediate intervention
- Neglected Area: Mental health which forms the core of our personhood is often neglected which impeded the development of an individual to full potential.
- Disproportionate impact: It is the poor, dispossessed and marginalised who bear the greatest burden of mental health problems, but historically their sufferings are dismissed as a natural extension of their social and economic conditions.
- Vulnerability of the ills: Mentally ill patients are vulnerable to and usually suffer from drug abuse, wrongful confinement, even at homes and mental healthcare facilities which is a cause of concern and a gross human right violation.
- Suicidal tendencies: Suicidal behavior was found to have relation with female gender, working condition, independent decision making, premarital sex, physical abuse and sexual abuse.
- Gendered nature: Females are more predisposed to mental disorders due to rapid social change, gender discrimination, social exclusion, gender disadvantage like marrying at young age, concern about the husband’s substance misuse habits, and domestic violence.
Policy initiatives
- National Mental Health Program (NMHP): To address the huge burden of mental disorders and shortage of qualified professionals in the field of mental health, the government has been implementing the NMHP since 1982.
- Mental HealthCare Act 2017: It guarantees every affected person access to mental healthcare and treatment from services run or funded by the government.
- Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2017: The Act acknowledges mental illness as a disability and seeks to enhance the Rights and Entitlements of the Disabled and provide an effective mechanism for ensuring their empowerment and inclusion in the society
- Manodarpan Initiative: An initiative under Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan aims to provide psycho-social support to students for their mental health and well-being.
Way Forward
- Policy boost: Mental health situation in India demands active policy interventions and resource allocation by the government.
- Public sensitization: To reduce the stigma around mental health, we need measures to train and sensitize the community/society.
- Awareness: People should be made aware of the significance of mental health, as much as that of physical health.
- Destigmatising: Sharing one’s story about mental health (through media campaigns) is the most effective strategy to reduce stigma attached with mental illness
- Community Approach: There is need to deploy community health workers who, with appropriate training and supervision, effectively deliver psychosocial interventions for the needy
- Broadening the scope: Mental health care must embrace the diversity of experiences and strategies which work, well beyond the narrow confines of traditional biomedicine with its emphasis on “doctors, diagnoses, and drugs”.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SCO
Mains level: Not Much
Pakistan has been invited to the closing ceremony of the ongoing Joint Anti-Terror Exercise (JATE) within the ambit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) being hosted by India.
What is the news?
- The National Security Guard (NSG) is hosting the multinational JATE “Manesar Anti-Terror 2022”, under the framework of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS).
- Pakistan team would be participating in the event as a member of the SCO.
What is SCO RATS?
- Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against the three evils of terrorism, separatism and extremism.
- It is headquartered in Tashkent.
- Its head is elected to three-year term.
- Each member state of SCO sends permanent representative to RATS
About Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO)
- The SCO, in which China plays an influential role, is also comprised of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.
- India and Pakistan were admitted into the bloc in 2017.
- It is Eurasian economic, political and security organisation headquartered in Beijing, China.
- Its main objective is military cooperation between member states.
- It is primarily centred on security-related concerns of Central Asian members with main threats being terrorism, separatism and extremism.
- It was established in June 2001 as a successor of Shanghai Five mechanism which was established in 1996 with China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan as members.
- Iran, Afghanistan, Belarus and Mongolia enjoy observer status of SCO.
- Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Nepal are dialogue partners of SCO.
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