💥UPSC 2026, 2027 UAP Mentorship September Batch
October 2025
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Climate Change Impact on India and World – International Reports, Key Observations, etc.

Climate Change Induced Migration

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NA

Mains level: Climate change and associated migration

Climate Change

Context

  • Climate-induced displacements have increased both in numbers and magnitude worldwide. According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre’s (IDMC) report, 23.7 million people experienced displacements in 2021 as a result of cyclones and floods.

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Climate Change

Estimates about Migration

  • IOM estimates: The International Organisation on Migration (IOM) estimates that on a global scale, between 25 million and 1 billion people would be compelled to migrate from their homes because of climate change and environmental degradation by 2050.
  • Situation in south Asia: South Asia is no exception to it. Disasters cause most of the internal displacements occurring in South Asia every year, and in the year 2021, nearly 5.3 million disaster displacements were reported.
  • CANSA Report: The Climate Action Network South Asia (CANSA) reports that approximately 45 million people in India alone, shall be compelled to migrate by 2050 due to climate disasters, with a threefold increase in current figures.

Climate change

How women and children are most vulnerable?

  • UN report: The United Nations asserts that around 80 percent of climate change displaces include women.
  • Global International Migrant Stock: The present share of women migrants in the Global International Migrant Stock oscillates between 48 percent and 52 percent, as they frequently experience ‘triple discrimination’ given their positions as women, unprotected workers and migrants.
  • Developing countries are most vulnerable: The situation becomes even more precarious in developing countries like India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and several small island nations in the Pacific Ocean.
  • Violence is likely: Women uprooted due to climate change become more vulnerable to violence, human trafficking, and armed conflicts. For instance, a study by the Sierra Club (2018) revealed how women impacted by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar witnessed increased occurrences of sexual and domestic abuse, forced prostitution, and sex and labour trafficking.

What is the New York Declaration on international Migration?

  • Global compact for migration (GCM): It mandated the adoption of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) in 2018 and for the first time, a comprehensive framework recognising the concept of climate change-induced migration within the broader concept of international migration was developed.
  • Global compact on refugee: The Declaration also paved the way for an adoption of a Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) in the same year, but an extension of refugee law to cater to the needs of those displaced by the forces of climate change does not really resolve this humanitarian concern.
  • More investment in research: It also highlights the need for pumping in more investments towards research to tackle the challenges of environmental migration and rests on important climate change mitigation instruments like the Paris Climate Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).
  • Share responsibility on states: The Zero Draft of the GCM itself highlights how it sets out shared responsibilities of the states in commitment to the causes of migration– showing how the GCM relies on the countries having a sense of moral responsibility for the fulfilment of its goals and objectives.

Discussion in COP27 about climate migration

  • Global goal on adaptation: The 2022 Conference of the Parties’ (or COP27) summit was seen as a platform that would lend visibility to the concept of climate migration, especially in light of how a work programme for defining a Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA) towards identifying collective needs and solutions in light of the ongoing climate crisis that has already affected so many countries around the world, was established in the 2021 COP26 summit.
  • Lack of progress on migration: While COP27 established a framework towards the attainment of the GGA (likely to be adopted in 2023 at COP28), its progress towards protecting and assisting climate migrants remains in a state of limbo.
  • Task force on displacement: As highlighted in a study by the ECDM, the key problem lies in how the Task Force on Displacement has projected climate-induced mobility as a “loss and damage” concern, in turn putting forth the idea that this kind of human mobility stands as a failed adoption strategy.

What role India can play on climate-induced migration?

  • No clear reference to climate migration: Paragraph 40 of the G20 Bali Leaders’ Declaration talks about preventing irregular migration flows, the trafficking of migrants and holding such talks in the future G20 summits to come, but the term “climate migration” fails to make an appearance.
  • Leverage G20 for climate migration consensus: India seeks to play a significant role in the international efforts for climate action, and its commitment can be reflected in it being party to the UNFCCC and its instruments–the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Its presidency could provide a platform for the G20 countries to work together in addressing the growing concerns of human mobility in forms of both migration and displacements.
  • Intergovernmental dialogue: Also, knowledge gaps pertaining to human mobility because of climate change and environmental degradation can be addressed through intergovernmental dialogues to be held at the G20 platform under India’s Presidency.

Climate change

Conclusion

  • Policymakers meet to discuss the several concerns of climate change at various platforms, progress concerning any support for the climate migrants remain insufficient till date, resting on goodwill gestures instead. World must pay attention and money to firmly address the climate migration issue.

Mains Question

Q. What is climate induced migration? How women and children are most vulnerable to climate migration? What role India can play to address the issue?

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Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

OGMP and MARS : An innovative opportunity to reduce methane emissions

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Methane, MARS system, OGMP

Mains level: Methane, MARS system, framework, OGMP and India

opportunity

Context

  • The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) initiative was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) at the 27th Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change on November 11, 2022. Is it right to say that India not joining the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership is a missed opportunity?

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opportunity

Methane a Toxic greenhouse gas

  • A major greenhouse gas: Methane is the second-most common of the six major greenhouse gases, but is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide in its potential to cause global warming.
  • One of major contributor of GHG emissions: Contribution Accounting for about 17 per cent of the current global greenhouse gas emissions.
  • One of the key reasons behind Temperature rise: Methane is blamed for having caused at least 25 to 30 per cent of temperature rise since the pre-industrial times.
  • Methane largely a Sectoral gas: Unlike carbon dioxide, methane is largely a sectoral gas, and there are only a few sources of emission.
  • Few sources large emissions of methane: The global warming potential of methane is about 80 times that of carbon dioxide. It accounts for a small portion of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions compared to carbon dioxide.

Did you know? Global Methane pledge

  • The global methane pledge was adopted during COP26.
  • Under it, countries agreed to reduce global methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
  • This will help to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
  • into the right hands for emissions mitigation.

opportunity

What is Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP)?

  • A methodology to help companies reduce methane emissions: The Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) methodology was created by the Climate and Clean Air Coalition in 2014 as a voluntary initiative to help companies reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.
  • The Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0: OGMP 2.0 is a multi-stakeholder initiative launched by UNEP and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. The OGMP 2.0 is the only comprehensive, measurement-based reporting framework for the oil and gas industry that improves the accuracy and transparency of methane emissions reporting in the oil and gas sector.
  • Companies joined the partnership: Over 80 companies with assets on five continents, representing a significant share of of the world’s oil and gas production, have joined the Partnership. OGMP 2.0 members also include operators of natural gas transmission and distribution pipelines, gas storage capacity and LNG terminals. The members constitute around 35 per cent of the total global oil and gas production and two-thirds of the total liquefied natural gas flows around the world

opportunity

What is Methane Alert and Response System (MARS)?

  • MARS is a part of global efforts to slow climate change by tracking the global warming gas.
  • The system will be the first publicly available global system to connect methane detection to notification processes transparently.
  • The data-to-action platform was set up as part of the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) strategy to get policy-relevant data

How many countries and companies are engaged with the MARS initiative and is India involved?

  • The system was requested by the United States and the European Union but it is in the service of the entire world.
  • There are no Indian companies that have joined the OGMP.

Conclusion

  • MARS is a satellite-based system to help industries and governments detect and reduce methane emissions. This will help UNEP confirm methane emissions reported by companies and analyze changes over time. India should consider this as an opportunity to cooperate in reducing methane emissions

Mains question

Q. Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and currently contributes about a quarter of global warming. In light of this, what does it mean to engage with the OGMP and MARS system?

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Tax Reforms

Economic inequality and the relationship between state, citizens and taxation

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NA

Mains level: Economic inequality In India, Welfare state and the relation between state, citizen and taxation

inequality

Context

  • Economic inequality in India impacts every aspect of our everyday lives, despite the country being a welfare state. As we celebrate 75 years of Independence, the poor citizens of India continue to face increased fiscal burden in the form of inflation and higher taxes, with fewer benefits.

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 “No taxation without representation”

  • This slogan played a crucial role in the freedom movements of India and the United States.
  • The statement indicates the relationship between the state, citizens and taxation.

inequality

Analysis: Relationship between the state, citizens and taxation

  • A concept of welfare state: The legitimacy of taxation is derived from the welfare done by the government.
  • Government’s role: The Constitution of India envisaged the state’s role as a welfare one. For that, the government is empowered to administer taxes and their transfer.
  • However, in the year of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, ‘transfers’ are being painted as revadi (freebies) and the lives of poor citizens are being burdened by regressive “taxes”
  • Inflation as a hidden tax: Inflation acts as a hidden tax on poor and middle-class citizens. For instance, at the time of the introduction of the central scheme Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi or PM-KISAN, which gave Rs 6,000 cash benefit to farmers, diesel cost Rs 65 per litre. Thus, fuel inflation devours the cash benefit of this scheme
  • Highway taxation in contrast with the idea of a welfare state: The roadways are meant to be available free of cost, being public goods. However, Privatisation and PPP models, such services now demand a fee. In the financial year 2021-2022, the government mopped up Rs 35,000 crore as toll tax. The same is projected to reach Rs 1.34 lakh cr by 2025.
  • The diversion of funds meant for one to other sectors is an implicit fiscal burden: The road cess that was intended to fund the construction of roads is diverted to other projects, while citizens are charged heavy tolls for the roads, adding up to already toll burdened people.
  • The case of municipal tax and user charges: When citizens pay municipal tax, the municipality is supposed to ensure cleanliness and sanitation facilities. But the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) introduced a “User Charge” of Rs 365 per household to make the city clean, which is 15% of the municipal tax amount.
  • Discriminatory practices of the administration: Flawed administrative rules also impose fiscal costs on the poor and middle classes of society. Administration allows cars to be parked on the road with impunity, but if two-wheelers are parked on the road, they get towed.

inequality

Criticism: Discriminatory treatment to rich and poor in the name of welfare state

  • Monetisation of public spaces weakens state- citizen relationship: It is said when people take ownership and responsibility of public spaces, people become citizens. It ought to be remembered that monetisation of public spaces portends to weaken the state-citizen relationship.
  • The nomenclature of government language itself reflects discriminatory approach: When governments provide fiscal help to the poor, it is called revadi, but the same offered to the rich is lucratively termed “incentive”.
  • Subsidised food is advertised while incentives provided to corporates are not well known: Posters for subsidised food to the poor are ubiquitous across India, but no public posters are screaming about the Rs 1.97 lakh crore “incentive” given to the corporate sector under 13 production linked incentive schemes.
  • Flawed mechanism of personal details in the name of transparency: In the name of transparency, the government uploads the personal details of each Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) worker on its website; but the same government does not disclose the names of willful bank defaulters to uphold those ideals of privacy.

inequality

Conclusion

  • 73% of the wealth generated in India in 2017 went to the richest 1%, while the poorest half of the population saw only a 1% increase in their wealth. When we celebrate the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the need of the hour is to focus must be to make India economically equal and prosperous.

Mains question

Q. As we celebrate 75 years of Independence, the poor citizens of India continue to face increased fiscal burden in the form of inflation and higher taxes, with fewer benefits. Critically examine.

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Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

What are Carbon Markets and how do they operate? 

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Carbon Trading

Mains level: Read the attached story

carbon

The Parliament passed the Energy Conservation (Amendment) Bill, 2022. It amends the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, to empower the Government to establish carbon markets in India and specify a carbon credit trading scheme.

A quick recap

  • In order to keep global warming within 2°C, ideally no more than 1.5°C, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions need to be reduced by 25 to 50% over this decade.
  • Nearly 170 countries have submitted their nationally determined contributions (NDCs) so far as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which they have agreed to update every five years.
  • NDCs are climate commitments by countries setting targets to achieve net-zero emissions.
  • India, for instance, is working on a long-term roadmap to achieve its target of net zero emissions by 2070.

What are Carbon Markets?

  • In order to meet NDCs, one mitigation strategy is becoming popular with several countries— carbon markets.
  • Article 6 of the Paris Agreement provides for the use of international carbon markets by countries to fulfil their NDCs.
  • Carbon markets are essentially a tool for putting a price on carbon emissions— they establish trading systems where carbon credits or allowances can be bought and sold.
  • A carbon credit is a kind of tradable permit that, per United Nations standards, equals one tonne of carbon dioxide removed, reduced, or sequestered from the atmosphere.
  • Carbon allowances or caps, meanwhile, are determined by countries or governments according to their emission reduction targets.

Popularity of the carbon markets

  • A UN Development Program release this year noted that interest in carbon markets is growing globally.
  • Almost 83% of NDCs submitted by countries mention their intent to make use of international market mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

What are the types of carbon markets?

There are broadly two types of carbon markets that exist today— compliance markets and voluntary markets.

(A) Voluntary Markets

  • They are those in which emitters— corporations, private individuals, and others— buy carbon credits to offset the emission of one tonne of CO 2 or equivalent greenhouse gases.
  • Such carbon credits are created by activities which reduce CO 2 from the air, such as afforestation. In a voluntary market, a corporation looking to compensate for its unavoidable GHG emissions purchases carbon credits from an entity engaged in projects that reduce, remove, capture, or avoid emissions.
  • For Instance, in the aviation sector, airlines may purchase carbon credits to offset the carbon footprints of the flights they operate.
  • In voluntary markets, credits are verified by private firms as per popular standards.
  • There are also traders and online registries where climate projects are listed and certified credits can be bought.

(B) Compliance Market

  • Compliance markets— set up by policies at the national, regional, and/or international level— are officially regulated.
  • Today, compliance markets mostly operate under a principle called ‘cap-and-trade”, most popular in the European Union (EU).

Successful example of Carbon Market: EU’s emissions trading system (ETS)

  • Under the EU’s ETS launched in 2005, member countries set a cap or limit for emissions in different sectors, such as power, oil, manufacturing, agriculture, and waste management.
  • This cap is determined as per the climate targets of countries and is lowered successively to reduce emissions.
  • Entities in this sector are issued annual allowances or permits by governments equal to the emissions they can generate.
  • If companies produce emissions beyond the capped amount, they have to purchase additional permit, either through official auctions or from companies.
  • This makes up the ‘trade’ part of cap-and-trade.

How is carbon price determined?

  • The market price of carbon gets determined by market forces when purchasers and sellers trade in emissions allowances.
  • Notably, companies can also save up excess permits to use later.
  • Through this kind of carbon trading, companies can decide if it is more cost-efficient to employ clean energy technologies or to purchase additional allowances.
  • These markets may promote the reduction of energy use and encourage the shift to cleaner fuels.

Other such examples

  • China launched the world’s largest ETS in 2021, estimated to cover around one-seventh of the global carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels.
  • Markets also operate or are under development in North America, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and New Zealand.

Significance of Carbon Market

  • The World Bank estimates that trading in carbon credits could reduce the cost of implementing NDCs by more than half — by as much as $250 billion by 2030.
  • Last year, the value of global markets for tradable carbon allowances or permits grew by 164% to a record 760 billion euros ($851 billion).
  • The EU’s ETS contributed the most to this increase, accounting for 90% of the global value at 683 billion euros.
  • As for voluntary carbon markets, their current global value is comparatively smaller at $2 billion.

What is the progress at UN?

  • The UN international carbon market envisioned in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is yet to kick off as multilateral discussions are still underway about how the inter-country carbon market will function.
  • Under the proposed market, countries would be able to offset their emissions by buying credits generated by greenhouse gas-reducing projects in other countries.
  • In the past, developing countries, particularly India, China and Brazil, gained significantly from a similar carbon market under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, 1997.
  • India registered 1,703 projects under the CDM which is the second highest in the world.
  • But with the 2015 Paris Agreement, the global scenario changed as even developing countries had to set emission reduction targets.

India’s efforts

The new Bill empowers the Centre to specify a carbon credits trading scheme.

  • Issuance of credit certificates: Under the Bill, the central government or an authorised agency will issue carbon credit certificates to companies or even individuals registered and compliant with the scheme.
  • Tradable carbon credits: These carbon credit certificates will be tradeable in nature. Other persons would be able to buy carbon credit certificates on a voluntary basis.

Existing mechanisms

  • Notably, two types of tradeable certificates are already issued in India-
  1. Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) and
  2. Energy Savings Certificates (ESCs)
  • These are issued when companies use renewable energy or save energy, which are also activities which reduce carbon emissions.

Lacunas of the bill

  • No clear mechanism: The Bill does not provide clarity on the mechanism to be used for the trading of carbon credit certificates— whether it will be like the cap-and-trade schemes or use another method— and who will regulate such trading.
  • Confusion over nodal agency: The right ministry to bring in a scheme of this nature, pointing out that while carbon market schemes in other jurisdictions like the US, UK are framed by their environment ministries, the Indian Bill was tabled by the power ministry instead of the MoEFCC.
  • Ambiguity over existing certificates: The Bill does not specify whether certificates under already existing schemes would also be interchangeable with carbon credit certificates and tradeable for reducing carbon emissions.
  • Overlapping: The question, thus, is whether all these certificates could be exchanged with each other. There are concerns about whether overlapping schemes may dilute the overall impact of carbon trading.

Challenges to carbon markets

  • Double counting: of greenhouse gas reductions
  • Quality and authenticity: These parameters of climate projects that generate credits to poor market transparency
  • Greenwashing: Companies may buy credits, simply offsetting carbon footprints instead of reducing their overall emissions or investing in clean technologies.
  • Inefficiency: The IMF points out that including high emission-generating sectors under trading schemes to offset their emissions by buying allowances may immensely increase emissions on net.

Way forward

  • Alignment with NDCs: The UNDP emphasizes that for carbon markets to be successful, emission reductions and removals must be real and aligned with the country’s NDCs.
  • Transparent financing: It says that there must be “transparency in the institutional and financial infrastructure for carbon market transactions”.

 

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Tax Reforms

Global Minimum Tax on big businesses

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Global Minimum Tax

Mains level: Not Much

tax

Members of the EU last week agreed in principle to implement a global minimum tax of 15% on big businesses.

Global Minimum Corporate Tax

  • Major economies are aiming to discourage multinational companies from shifting profits – and tax revenues – to low-tax countries regardless of where their sales are made.
  • Increasingly, income from intangible sources such as drug patents, software, and royalties on intellectual property has migrated to these jurisdictions.
  • This has allowed companies to avoid paying higher taxes in their traditional home countries.

What is the recent EU agreement?

  • EU members have agreed to implement a minimum tax rate of 15% on big businesses in accordance with Pillar 2 of the global tax agreement framed by the OECD last year.
  • Under the OECD’s plan, governments will be equipped to impose additional taxes in case companies are found to be paying taxes that are considered too low.
  • This is to ensure that big businesses with global operations do not benefit by domiciling themselves in tax havens in order to save on taxes.

Need for a global minimum tax

  • Corporate tax rates across the world have been dropping over the last few decades as a result of competition between governments to spur economic growth through greater private investments.
  • Large multinational companies have traditionally paid taxes in their home countries even though they did most of their business in foreign countries.
  • The OECD plan tries to give more taxing rights to the governments of countries where large businesses conduct a substantial amount of their business.
  • As a result, large US tech companies may have to pay more taxes to the governments of developing countries.

History of such taxes

  • Global corporate tax rates have fallen from over 40% in the 1980s to under 25% in 2020.
  • The global tax competition was kick-started by former US President Ronald Reagan and former British PM Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
  • The OECD’s tax plan tries to put an end to this “race to the bottom” which has made it harder for governments to shore up the revenues required to fund their rising spending budgets.
  • The minimum tax proposal is particularly relevant at a time when the fiscal state of governments across the world has deteriorated as seen in the worsening of public debt metrics.

Response to the EU move

  • Some governments, particularly those of traditional tax havens, are likely to disagree and stall the implementation of the OECD’s tax plan.
  • High tax jurisdictions like the EU are more likely to fully adopt the minimum tax plan as it saves them from having to compete against low tax jurisdictions.
  • Low tax jurisdictions, on the other hand, are likely to resist the OECD’s plan unless they are compensated sufficiently in other ways.

Way forward

  • Supporters of the OECD’s tax plan believe that it will end the global “race to the bottom” and help governments collect the revenues required for social spending.
  • The plan will also help counter rising global inequality by making it tougher for large businesses to pay low taxes by availing the services of tax havens.
  • Critics of the OECD’s proposal, however, see the global minimum tax as a threat.
  • They argue that without tax competition between governments, the world would be taxed a lot more than it is today, thus adversely affecting global economic growth.
  • In other words, these critics believe that it is the threat of tax competition that keeps a check on governments that would otherwise tax their citizens heavily to fund profligate spending programs.

 

 

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Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

Historic biodiversity deal gets the nod at COP15 summit in Canada

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: CBD

Mains level: Read the attached story

biodiversity

Negotiators reached a historic deal at a UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) conference that would represent the most significant effort to protect the world’s lands and oceans and provide critical financing to save biodiversity in the developing world.

Key outcomes

[A] 30×30 Deal

  • Delegates committed to protecting 30% of land and 30% of coastal and marine areas by 2030, fulfilling the deal’s highest-profile goal, known as 30-by-30.
  • Currently, 17% of terrestrial and 10% of marine areas are protected.
  • Indigenous and traditional territories will also count toward this goal, as many countries and campaigners pushed for during the talks.
  • The deal also aspires to restore 30% of degraded lands and waters throughout the decade, up from an earlier aim of 20%.
  • And the world will strive to prevent destroying intact landscapes and areas with a lot of species, bringing those losses “close to zero by 2030”.

[B] Money for nature

  • Signatories aim to ensure $200 billion per year is channeled to conservation initiatives, from public and private sources.
  • Wealthier countries should contribute at least $20 billion of this every year by 2025, and at least $30 billion a year by 2030.
  • This appeared to be the Democratic Republic of Congo’s main source of objection to the package.

[C] Big companies report impacts on biodiversity

  • Companies should analyse and report how their operations affect and are affected by biodiversity issues.
  • The parties agreed to large companies and financial institutions being subject to “requirements” to make disclosures regarding their operations, supply chains and portfolios.
  • This reporting is intended to progressively promote biodiversity, reduce the risks posed to business by the natural world, and encourage sustainable production.

[D] Harmful subsidies

  • Countries committed to identify subsidies that deplete biodiversity by 2025, and then eliminate, phase out or reform them.
  • They agreed to slash those incentives by at least $500 billion a year by 2030, and increase incentives that are positive for conservation.

[E] Pollution and pesticides

  • One of the deal’s more controversial targets sought to reduce the use of pesticides by up to two-thirds.
  • But the final language to emerge focuses on the risks associated with pesticides and highly hazardous chemicals instead, pledging to reduce those threats by “at least half”, and instead focusing on other forms of pest management.
  • Overall, the Kunming-Montreal agreement will focus on reducing the negative impacts of pollution to levels that are not considered harmful to nature, but the text provides no quantifiable target here.

[F] Monitoring and reporting progress

  • All the agreed aims will be supported by processes to monitor progress in the future, in a bid to prevent this agreement meeting the same fate as similar targets that were agreed in Aichi, Japan, in 2010, and never met.
  • National action plans will be set and reviewed, following a similar format used for greenhouse gas emissions under U.N.-led efforts to curb climate change.
  • Some observers objected to the lack of a deadline for countries to submit these plans.

Back2Basics: Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

  • The CBD (wef 1993) known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is a multilateral treaty.
  • The convention has three main goals:
  1. the conservation of biodiversity
  2. the sustainable use of its components
  3. the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources
  • Its objective is to develop national strategies for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, and it is often seen as the key document regarding sustainable development.
  • It has two supplementary agreements, the Cartagena Protocol and Nagoya Protocol.

(1) Cartagena Protocol

  • It is an international treaty governing the movements of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology from one country to another.

(2) Nagoya Protocol

  • It deals with Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS).

 

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Liquor Policy of States

In news: Bihar Hooch Tragedy and Alcohol Ban

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Alcohol laws

Mains level: Read the attached story

alcohol

The official death toll from the latest hooch tragedy in “dry” Bihar has mounted to 38. Bihar has completely prohibited alcohol.

Alcohol Ban in India

  • India has a long history of banning alcohol, with prohibition a part of the Directive Principles of State Policy in the Constitution and also among the key Gandhian principles.
  • Gandhi wrote, “Alcohol makes a man forget himself and while its effects last, he becomes utterly incapable of doing anything useful. Those who take to drinking, ruin themselves and ruin their people.”

How the Indian constitution views alcohol?

  • One of the DPSP mentions that “in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.”
  • While DPSPs are not in themselves legally enforceable, they set goals that the state should aspire towards to establish conditions under which citizens can lead a good life.
  • According to the Seventh Schedule, alcohol is a state subject, i.e. state legislatures have the right and responsibility to draft laws regarding it.
  • This includes “the production, manufacture, possession, transport, purchase and sale of intoxicating liquors.
  • Thus, laws regarding alcohol differ from state to state, falling in the whole spectrum between prohibition and private sale.

Why do all states not have prohibition?

Ans. Huge Liquor Revenues

  • While the Constitution sets prohibition on alcohol as a goal, for most states, it is very difficult to declare a ban on alcohol.
  • This is primarily because liquor revenues are not easy to ignore and have consistently contributed a large share of state governments’ revenue.
  • For instance, in Maharashtra, state liquor revenues amounted to Rs 11,000 crore in April 2020 (during the nationwide Covid lockdown), compared with Rs 17,000 crore in March.
  • The state government attributed much of this drop to the closure of liquor stores, later categorising them as an essential service, in part due to the industry’s contribution to tax revenues.
  • The day liquor stores were reopened, the Maharashtra government collected Rs 11 crore revenue from liquor sales in a single day.

States with complete ban

  • All states have some regulations with regards to alcohol consumption and sale (like age requirements or dry days).
  • Currently, there are five states with total prohibition and some more with partial prohibition:

(1) Bihar

  • Both the sale and prohibition of liquor was completely banned by the Nitish Kumar government back in 2016, in keeping with a promise made to the women of Bihar ahead of the Assembly polls.
  • Severe punishments were imposed on those found to be flouting the ban, including heavy fines and prison sentences.
  • Earlier this year, the Bihar government passed an amendment to its prohibition laws, which dials down on punishment to first-time “drinkers” and lets them get away with a fine rather than face arrest.
  • This was done to unclog Bihar’s already overcrowded jails and focus the government’s attention on sellers and distributors rather than consumers of liquor.

(2) Gujarat

  • Gujarat has had prohibition since it came into existence as a state in 1960.
  • In the 62 years since prohibition has been around in Gujarat, the Act has seen several amendments.
  • Notably, in 2009, then CM introduced the death penalty for sellers/producers if their spurious alcohol caused deaths.
  • However, Gujarat has provisions for special alcohol licences for hospitality establishments as well as individuals.

(3) Lakshadweep

  • The Union Territory bans both the consumption and sale of alcohol keeping in mind the culture and sentiments of its predominantly Muslim population.
  • However, the island of Bangram has a resort with a bar which is allowed to legally serve liquor.

(4) Mizoram

  • In 2019, Mizoram became a “dry state” once again after the new government reintroduced prohibition that was repealed in 2015.
  • Previously, Mizoram had seen prohibition for 18 years.
  • The Mizo National Front (MNF) government had prohibition as one of its most important pre-poll promises.
  • Here, the loss of revenue is much less than the loss of human life and suffering. Larger societal benefit is considered more vital.
  • Only military personnel and those with “medical needs” are allowed to consume alcohol.

(5) Nagaland

  • Nagaland introduced total prohibition in 1989 due to “moral and social” reasons, for the greater good of its citizens.
  • However, in recent times, the Naga government has mulled partially lifting prohibition due to various reasons.

Partial prohibitions in some states

  • Some states with partial prohibition are Karnataka, which specifically banned country-made arrack in 2007.
  • In Maharashtra, the districts of Wardha and Gadhricholi have banned on production and sale of liquor.
  • In Manipur, districts of Bishnupur, Imphal East, Imphal West and Thoubal have prohibition.
  • In 2014, then CM Oomen Chandy announced that Kerala would implement prohibition in a phased manner.
  • However, the state has since gone back on this promise.

Reason behind Bihar tragedy: Alcohol Ban

  • Critics have claimed that one of the reasons behind the tragedy is the state’s prohibition policy.
  • An official ban on alcohol leads to a thriving underground economy where such spurious alcohol is produced and sold.

Does prohibition really work?

  • Creates no deterrence: There is evidence to show that, prohibition creates opportunities for a thriving underground economy that distributes liquor, outside the regulatory framework of the state.
  • Rise of mafias: This creates its own problems, from strengthening organized crime groups (or mafias) to the distribution of spurious liquor.
  • No evidence of progress: In the case of Bihar, a year after prohibition was enforced, there was a spike in substance abuse.
  • Anti-poor: In the case of Bihar, a majority of cases registered under its prohibition laws are on the less privileged.

Limited benefits

  • Prevented crime against women: Various studies have provided evidence linking alcohol with domestic abuse or domestic violence. In India, prohibition has often been framed as a “women’s rights” issue.
  • Prevented domestic violence: Prohibition might have some limited benefits as well. Various studies have provided evidence linking alcohol with domestic abuse or domestic violence.

 

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Modern Indian History-Events and Personalities

In news: Goa Liberation Day

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Goa Liberation Day

Mains level: Decolonization in India

goa

The President of India tweeted her greetings to the nation on December 19, marking Goa Liberation Day, which is celebrated annually to mark the success of ‘Operation Vijay’ undertaken by the Indian armed forces to defeat Portuguese colonial forces and liberate Goa in 1961.

What is the news?

  • Goa was liberated 15 years after India attained freedom.
  • Last year PM Modi accused Nehru as guilty of leaving satyagrahis in the dismay, refusing to send the Indian Army to liberate Goa, even after 25 of them were shot dead by the Portuguese Army.

Goa’s Colonization: A backgrounder

  • Goa became a Portuguese colony in 1510, when Admiral Afonso de Albuquerque defeated the forces of the sultan of Bjiapur, Yusuf Adil Shah.
  • The next four and a half centuries saw one of Asia’s longest colonial encounters — Goa found itself at the intersection of competing regional and global powers.
  • It received a religious and cultural ferment that lead eventually to the germination of a distinct Goan identity that continues to be a source of contestation even today.
  • By the turn of the twentieth century, Goa had started to witness an upsurge of nationalist sentiment opposed to Portugal’s colonial rule, in sync with the anti-British nationalist movement.

Beginning of freedom movement

  • Tristao de Braganza Cunha, celebrated as the father of Goan nationalism, founded the Goa National Congress at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress in 1928.
  • In 1946, the socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia led a historic rally in Goa that gave a call for civil liberties and freedom, and eventual integration with India.
  • This event became a watershed moment in Goa’s freedom struggle.
  • At the same time, there was a thinking that civil liberties could not be won by peaceful methods, and a more aggressive armed struggle was needed.
  • This was the view of the Azad Gomantak Dal (AGD), whose co-founder Prabhakar Sinari is one of the few freedom fighters still living today.
  • Finally, Goa was liberated on December 19, 1961 by swift Indian military action that lasted less than two days.

Recognition of Goa

  • The Supreme Court of India recognized the validity of the annexation and rejected the continued applicability of the law of occupation.
  • In a treaty with retroactive effect, Portugal recognized Indian sovereignty in 1974.
  • Under the jus cogens rule, forceful annexations including the annexation of Goa are held as illegal since they have taken place after the UN Charter came into force.

Why was Goa left un-colonized?

As India moved towards independence, however, it became clear that Goa would not be free any time soon, because of a variety of complex factors.

  • No immediate war: Then PM Nehru felt that if he launched a military operation (like in Hyderabad) to oust the colonial rulers, his image as a global leader of peace would be impacted.
  • Trauma of Partition: The trauma of Partition and the massive rupture that followed, coupled with the war with Pakistan, kept the Government of India from opening another front.
  • Internationalization of the issue: This might have led the international community to get involved.
  • No demand from within: It was Gandhi’s opinion that a lot of groundwork was still needed to raise the consciousness of the people, and the diverse political voices emerging within be brought under a common umbrella.

Nehruvian dilemma

  • India’s global image: Nehru was headed in shaping India’s position in the comity of nations.
  • Trying peaceful options: He was trying to exhaust all options available to him given the circumstances that India was emerging from.
  • Portuguese obsession: Portugal had changed its constitution in 1951 to claim Goa not as a colonial possession, but as an overseas province.
  • Portugal in NATO: The move was apparently aimed at making Goa a part of the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) military alliance. Hence the collective security clause of the treaty would be triggered.
  • Weak indigenous push: Nehru saw it prudent to pursue bilateral diplomatic measures with Portugal to negotiate a peaceful transfer while, at the same time, a more ‘overt’ indigenous push for liberation.

Why did Nehru wait until December 1961 to launch a full-scale military offensive?

India could no longer be seen to delay the liberation of Goa because:

  • Portuguese offensive against Satyagrahis: The firing incident also provoked a sharp response from the Government of India, which snapped diplomatic and consular ties with Portugal in 1955.
  • India as torchbearer of de-colonization: India got itself firmly established as a leader of the Non Aligned World and Afro-Asian Unity, with decolonization and anti-imperialism as the pillars of its policy.
  • Criticisms from African nations: An Indian Council of Africa seminar on Portuguese colonies organized in 1961 heard strong views from African as this was hampering their own struggles against the ruthless regime.
  • Weakening Colonialism: The delegates were certain that the Portuguese empire would collapse the day Goa was liberated.

 

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UK’s Rwanda asylum seeker deportation plan is lawful, court rules

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Location of Rwanda

Mains level: Not Much

rwanda

Britain’s plan to send migrants to Rwanda is lawful, London’s High Court ruled, in a victory for PM Rishi Sunak who has made a high-stakes political promise to tackle the record number of migrant arrivals.

Immigrant’s crisis in UK

  • Since 2018, there has been a marked rise in the number of refugees and asylum seekers that undertake dangerous crossings between Calais in France and Dover in England.
  • Most such migrants and asylum seekers hail from war-torn countries like Sudan, Afghanistan, and Yemen, or developing countries like Iran and Iraq.
  • The Britain that has adopted a hardline stance on illegal immigration, these crossings constitute an immigration crisis.
  • The Nationality and Borders Bill, 2021, which is still under consideration in the UK, allows the British government to strip anyone’s citizenship without notice under “exceptional circumstances”.
  • The Rwanda deal is the operationalization of one objective in the Bill which is to deter illegal entry into the United Kingdom.

What is the Rwanda Deal?

  • The UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership or the Rwanda Deal is a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two governments.
  • Under this deal, Rwanda will commit to taking in asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on or after January 1, 2022, using illegally facilitated and unlawful cross border migration.
  • Rwanda will function as the holding centre where asylum applicants will wait while the Rwandan government makes decisions about their asylum and resettlement petitions in Rwanda.
  • Rwanda will, on its part, accommodate anyone who is not a minor and does not have a criminal record.

Rationale of the deal

  • The deal aims to combat “people smugglers”, who often charge exorbitant prices from vulnerable migrants to put them on unseaworthy boats from France to England that often lead to mass drownings.
  • The UK contends that this solution to the migrant issue is humane and meant to target the gangs that run these illegal crossings.

What will the scheme cost the UK?

  • The UK will pay Rwanda ÂŁ120 million as part of an “economic transformation and integration fund” and will also bear the operational costs along with an, as yet undetermined, amount for each migrant.
  • Currently, the UK pays ÂŁ4.7 million per day to accommodate approximately 25,000 asylum seekers.
  • At the end of 2021, this amounted to ÂŁ430 million annually with a projected increase of ÂŁ100 million in 2022.
  • The Rwanda Deal is predicted to reduce these costs by outsourcing the hosting of such migrants to a third country.

Will the Rwanda Deal solve the problem of illegal immigration?

  • This deal will be implemented in a matter of weeks unless it is challenged and stayed by British courts.
  • While Boris Johnson’s government is undoubtedly bracing for such legal challenges, it remains unclear if the Rwanda Deal will solve the problem of unlawful crossings.
  • Evidence from similar experiences indicates that such policies do not fully combat “people smuggling”.

Criticisms of the deal

  • There are dangers of transferring refugees and asylum seekers to third countries without sufficient safeguards.
  • The refugees are traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.
  • Such arrangements simply shift asylum responsibilities, evade international obligations, and are contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention.
  • Rwanda also has a known track record of extrajudicial killings, suspicious deaths in custody, unlawful or arbitrary detention, torture, and abusive prosecutions, particularly targeting critics and dissidents.

Do any other countries send asylum seekers overseas?

  • Yes, several other countries — including Australia, Israel and Denmark — have been sending asylum seekers overseas.
  • Australia has been making full use of offshore detention centres since 2001.
  • Israel, too, chose to deal with a growing influx of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants from places like Sudan and Eritrea by striking deals with third countries.
  • Those rejected for asylum were given the choice of returning to their home country or accepting $3,500 and a plane ticket to one of the third countries.
  • They faced the threat of arrest if they chose to remain in Israel.

 

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Indian Ocean Power Competition

The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in IOR

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: SIDS, IOR, SLOC etc

Mains level: SIDS, its importance, challenges and Way ahead, India role .

Island

Context

  • The Indian Ocean Region (IOR) serves as a connecting hub for global energy and commodity trade and comprises important Sea Lanes of Communication (SLOC) and major choke points. The IOR has become central to the geostrategic aspirations of large powers with vested interests in the region. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) located in the Western Indian Ocean such as Maldives, Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius, and Seychelles, are being dragged into the great power rivalry as a result.

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Small Island Developing States (SIDS)

  • Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a distinct group of 38 UN Member States and 20 Non-UN Members/Associate Members of United Nations regional commissions that face unique social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
  • The three geographical regions in which SIDS are located are: the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and South China Sea (AIS)
  • SIDS were recognized as a special case both for their environment and development at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Island

Significance of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) of IOR

  • SIDS are strategically important: The geographical location of SIDS islands is of strategic importance, ever since the Indo-Pacific architecture materialised.
  • Provides easy access and a base for replenishment: The islands provide easy access to the choke points, are located close to important SLOCs, and can serve as a base for the replenishment of resources for maritime powers conducting surveillance in the region.
  • Engagements boosts maritime expanse: The bigger powers have been engaging with the islands on a larger scale to boost their presence in this maritime expanse.

Island

Challenges faced by SIDS

  • Multiple challenges: The SIDS, by nature, face multiple challenges due to their remote locations, size, fragile ecosystems, small population, and limited resources and capabilities. Most of the SIDS are classified as middle-income states, but SIDS like Comoros are among the Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
  • Economies are not diversified: The economies of these states are not diversified and are highly dependent on a few sectors like tourism and fisheries.
  • Climate change and losses due to natural disasters: Climate change exacerbates their challenges, adding an extra burden on their frail economies. The SIDS account for two-thirds of states that suffer the highest relative losses (1 percent to 9 percent of GDP per year) due to natural disasters.
  • Rising sea levels and impact on various economic sectors: Apart from the threat of the low-lying islands going underwater in the future, rising sea levels directly impact the economic sectors of the SIDS. For instance, saltwater intrusion affects freshwater resources and diminishes the quality of agricultural land.
  • Largely dependent on food imports: The SIDS are already largely dependent on food imports as 50 percent of the SIDS import more than 80 percent of their food. A further reduction in food production will increase their dependence on food imports. Self-sufficiency is a distant dream for SIDS in this aspect.
  • Fishery industry a major contributor of economy facing challenges of loss of EEZ: Fish exports account for a large share of the revenue for these states. The fishery industry faces challenges of loss of Exclusive Economic Zones due to shifting baselines, and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.
  • Rising sea temperature: Additionally, rising sea temperatures also negatively affect marine biomass in the resource-rich zones of SIDS.
  • Tourism industry hampered by Pandemic: Almost 50 percent of the GDP of SIDS like the Maldives and Seychelles, depends on the tourism industry which was hampered by the pandemic. T

Island

Powerplay and China’s maritime development strategy in SIDS of IOR

  • Concerns about increasing influence China: Powers such as the US, Japan, Australia, and India are largely concerned with the increasing influence of China in the region.
  • China’s island development strategy: Islands play a major role in China’s maritime security policy, as is evident by its island development strategies in the contested South China Sea and cooperation initiatives with island states in various geographies.
  • Vulnerable SIDS welcomed Support initiatives from China: The SIDS have welcomed the development and support initiatives from China owing to their vulnerabilities. From a port development project in Madagascar and major infrastructure development projects in the Comoros islands to a Free Trade Agreement with Mauritius and development assistance to Maldives; China has firmly embedded its roots in the region.
  • Maldives in debt trap seeks India’s assistance: When Maldives owed a debt of nearly US$1.5 billion to China in 2018, it had to turn to its traditional partner, India, for assistance to prevent an economic crisis.
  • Madagascar worries about Chinese debt trap: Madagascar is also heavily surrounded by Chinese presence and involvement in its economy and is worried about being trapped in debt. Chinese-funded enterprises comprise 90 percent of the island’s economy. Chinese migrants left very few job opportunities for the locals, disrupted trade and commerce, and established a monopoly of Chinese products in the market. Such a heavy involvement of China in Madagascar puts it at a high risk of instability and political upheaval. This is a clear example of how the strategic interests of large powers can bring the SIDS to the brink of collapse.

Opportunity to discuss and maintain stability through various forums

  • SAMOA pathway: SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action (SAMOA) Pathway which is an international framework under the UN umbrella that has initiated a stronger action from the international community to support the vulnerable islands. It guides national, regional, and international development efforts to help these states achieve their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
  • Alliance of small Island states: Similarly, the Alliance of Small Island States is a representative body of 39 small island states that provides a platform to voice their grievances.
  • Indian ocean commission: The Indian Ocean Commission is yet another intergovernmental body that consists of the islands; Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles and RĂŠunion (French overseas region).

What SIDS must do?

  • The SIDS of IOR must strengthen their collaboration with each other.
  • They must make a collective effort to make their challenges and issues known to the other actors.
  • The SIDS should make use of the opportunity to ensure that the larger powers understand their security interests and include it in the larger security architecture

Way ahead

  • In most cases, decisions regarding security in the region have been taken by the influential, and larger powers without the SIDS.
  • The SIDS of the IOR can leverage their strategic position and use it to their advantage to make the larger powers acknowledge their security interests and issues.
  • The need of the hour is for stronger alliances and regional groupings to emerge, with significant participation of the SIDS, so that other actors do not downplay or overlook their issues and interests.

Conclusion

  • The SIDS have been advocating at various international forums for support and assistance to combat their challenges associated with resources, development, climate change, and most of all, survival. Rather than being viewed as pawns in the geopolitical competition, the SIDS must be viewed as important stakeholders in the region. This is the main change in the mindset, policies and approaches that are needed for secure and stable region.

Mains Question

Q. What is SIDS (Small Island Developing States). What is the significance of SIDS in IOR? Discuss the challenges faced by SIDS in the region and suggest a way ahead.

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Human Rights Issues

Personal freedom and the panel on Intercaste/Interfaith Marriages

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Right to life, right to marriage, Associated Constitutional provisions

Mains level: Intercaste/ Interfaith marriages, legislation and issues of freedom of choice and religion

Interfaith

Context

  • Following a report in this newspaper, the Maharashtra government has decided to limit the mandate of the recently constituted Intercaste/Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee (state level) to gathering information on interfaith marriages.

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Intercaste/Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee

  • Work under Women and child development: The renamed Interfaith Marriage-Family Coordination Committee will be under the state Women and Child Development Ministry.
  • Will Track frauds: The committee besides providing support and rehabilitation, when necessary, ostensibly track fraud committed in the name of love jihad.
  • Development come after walker case: The development came after the Shraddha Walkar case came to light in November. Walkar, 26, was murdered by her live-in partner Aaftab Poonawalla in May, 2022
  • Other states with anti-conversion legislation: With states such as Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand already having brought in anti-conversion legislation.

What is love jihad?

  • “Love jihad” is a term often used by activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.

Interfaith

How the initiative will work?

  • Will collect and keep details of interfaith marriages and ensure communication: This initiative will provide a platform for the women in intercaste/interfaith marriages and their families to access counselling, and communicate or resolve issues.
  • Committee will hold regular meetings: The committee has been assigned to hold meetings with district officials, and review work on seven parameters, including, gathering information about interfaith or inter-caste marriages from stamp duty and registrar offices, and collect information on such registered or unregistered marriages, among others.

Interfaith

What are the concerns raised?

  • Control over the lives of individual citizens: Such vigilance remains yet another indication of the State’s disproportionately burgeoning and utterly unacceptable interest in, and demand for, control over the lives of individual citizens.
  • Denial of women’s own choice: It is not just violative of one’s rights of freedom and equality, it also reeks of misogyny in its steadfast denial of a woman’s choice of partner as her own free will and not an act of coercion.
  • Committee can be armed: There is the IPC for all genuine complaints so the committee could be weaponised.
  • It will limit the freedoms of men and women: In every aspect, monitoring of a citizen’s life for her own supposed benefit is a cautionary tale, a limitation of the freedoms of men and women, designed to deter them from leading fuller, freer lives.

Interfaith

Basics: Right to Marriage

  • Comes under Right to life: The right to marry is a part of the right to life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
  • As an integral part of Right to Life: Various courts across the country have also interpreted the right to marry as an integral part of the right to life under Article 21.
  • Stated under Human rights Charter: The right to marriage is also stated under Human Rights Charter within the meaning of the right to start a family.
  • Universal right: The right to marry is a universal right and it is available to everyone irrespective of their gender.
  • Forced marriage is illegal: A forced marriage is illegal in different personal laws on marriage in India, with the right to marry recognized under the Hindu laws as well as Muslim laws.

How is religious freedom protected under the Constitution?

  • Article 25(1) of the Constitution guarantees the “freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion”.
  • It is a right that guarantees a negative liberty which means that the state shall ensure that there is no interference or obstacle to exercise this freedom.
  • However, like all fundamental rights, the state can restrict the right for grounds of public order, decency, morality, health and other state interests.

Conclusion

  • The marriage between politics and communalism is not a new phenomenon but to try to inhibit that idea of openness and possibility by casting communal aspersions on personal choice might be a travesty. There needs an innovative and inclusive approach to address the issues arise out of interfaith marriages.

Mains question

Q. Recently the Maharashtra government has set up a panel named “Intercaste/Interfaith marriage-family coordination committee (state level)” to gather information about couples in such marriages. Discuss the utility and concerns of such initiative?

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Women empowerment issues – Jobs,Reservation and education

Private Member’s Bill for women’s reservation

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Private members bill, reservation seats for women

Mains level: Women representation in legislatures

Bill

Context

  • As strong advocates of more representation of women in politics, looking at the number of women elected in the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assemblies has been saddening. With just 14.9 per cent women elected to our Lok Sabha, India ranks 144 out of 193 countries in the representation of women in parliament according to Inter-Parliamentary Union’s latest report. Among our immediate neighbours, India falls behind Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal.

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Background: Recent elections and women’s participation

  • Gujrat: Gujarat elected just 8 per cent of women legislators in its 182-member assembly.
  • Himachal Pradesh: Himachal Pradesh, where every second voter is a female, has elected 67 men and only one woman.
  • National Average: The national average of women in all state assemblies remains around 8 per cent. The figure is grim
  • Representation of women in local governments increased: After the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, the representation of women in local governments increased from a mere 3-4 per cent to nearly 50 per cent now.

Bill

History of Women’s Reservation Bill

  • First introduced in 1996 but lapsed with the dissolution of Lok Sabha: The Women’s Reservation Bill was first introduced in 1996 by the Deve Gowda government. After the Bill failed to get approval in Lok Sabha, it was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Geeta Mukherjee, which presented its report in December 1996. However, the Bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha and had to be reintroduced.
  • Bill reintroduced in 1998 but failed and lapsed: PM Vajpayee’s NDA government reintroduced the Bill in the 12th Lok Sabha in 1998. Yet again, it failed to get support and lapsed. In 1999, the NDA government reintroduced it in the 13th Lok Sabha.
  • One-third reservations for women: Subsequently, the Bill was introduced twice in Parliament in 2003. In 2004, the government included it in the Common Minimum Programme that said that the government will take the lead to introduce legislation for one-third reservations for women in Vidhan Sabhas and in the Lok Sabha.
  • The bill introduced and passed in Rajya Sabha: In 2008, the government tabled the Bill in the Rajya Sabha so that it does not lapse again. The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice recommended the passage of the Bill in December 2009. It was cleared by the Union Cabinet in February 2010. On March 9, 2010, the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 186-1 votes after immense debate. History was created.
  • Lapsed again in 2014: The Bill, then, reached the Lok Sabha where it never saw the light of day. When the House was dissolved in 2014, it lapsed. Now we are back to square one.
  • Renewed push: In the current Winter Session of Parliament, there is a renewed push from most Opposition parties to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Bill

The case study: Political parties and Women representation

  • Political parties that reserved seats for women for election candidature: So far only two regional political parties in India, Odisha’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) have reserved seats for women for election candidatures.
  • Candidature and results of 2019 general elections: TMC and BJD fielded 40 per cent and 33 per cent women candidates respectively. Interestingly, 65 per cent of the TMC’s women candidates won in comparison to 44 per cent of their men, whereas 86 per cent of the BJD’s women candidates won in comparison to 43 per cent of their men.

Private Member’s Bill for women’s reservation in all legislative bodies

  • Acknowledging the inequality and barriers: Women have historically suffered due to systemic inequality and barriers. Without a gender quota, women’s representation will continue to remain marginal causing a massive deficit in our democracy.
  • Reserved seats for women: Understanding this reality, there is a need to introduce a Private Member’s Bill demanding women’s reservation in all legislative bodies Lower and Upper Houses, and also reserved seats within that for women who come from historically marginalised communities.
  • Ensuring greater representation: It is a single step that will, if passed, immediately ensure at least 33 per cent representation of women.

What is Private Member’s Bill?

  • Piloted by member other than minister: A private member’s Bill is different from a government Bill and is piloted by Member of Parliament (MP) who is not a minister. A Member of Parliament who is not a minister is a private member.
  • To draw governments attention: Individual MPs may introduce private member’s Bill to draw the government’s attention to what they might see as issues requiring legislative intervention.

bill

Way ahead

  • The case for women’s reservation emanates from their lack of representation in legislative bodies. We cannot rely on incremental changes.
  • We cannot let another generation fight for what is fundamental to participating in a democracy the right to be heard and make decisions.
  • Women’s reservation will jump-start the democratic process. It will allow a significant majority to have a say in how their lives must be governed.
  • Over the years, though, women’s vote share has increased significantly, but the number of women in positions of power has not.

Conclusion

  • Victor Hugo famously said, “No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come”. Women’s reservation in legislatures is one idea which has been discussed, debated, and agreed upon by most political parties. It is now time to take it to fruition. With its massive women population, India has a huge reservoir of potential which, if unleashed, will take the country much ahead.

Main Question

Q. Women reservation bill has introduced and lapsed no of times. In this context discuss why it is necessary to have reserved seats for women in all legislative bodies?

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Judicial Pendency

What is Vacation Bench of Supreme Court?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Vacation Benches

Mains level: Resolving judicial pendency

Chief Justice of India D. Y. Chandrachud said no Vacation Benches will be available in the apex court during the winter break.

Vacation Bench

  • A Vacation Bench of the Supreme Court is a special bench constituted by the Chief Justice of India.
  • The court takes two long vacations each year, the summer and winter breaks, but is technically not fully closed during these periods.
  • Litigants can still approach the Supreme Court and, if the court decides that the plea is an “urgent matter”, the Vacation Bench hears the case on its merits.
  • While there is no specific definition as to what an “urgent matter” is.
  • During vacations the court generally admits writs related to habeas corpus, certiorari, prohibition and quo warranto matters for enforcement of any fundamental right.

Do you know?

The Supreme Court has 193 working days a year for its judicial functioning, while the High Courts function for approximately 210 days, and trial courts for 245 days. High Courts have the power to structure their calendars according to the service rules.

Legal Provisions for Vacation Bench

  • Under Rule 6 of Order II of The Supreme Court rules, 2013 the CJI has nominates the Division Benches for the hearing of urgent miscellaneous matters and regular hearing matters during the summer vacation for period.
  • The rule reads that CJI may appoint one or more Judges to hear during summer vacation or winter holidays all matters of an urgent nature which under these rules may be heard by a Judge sitting singly.
  • And, whenever necessary, he may likewise appoint a Division Court for the hearing of urgent cases during the vacation which require to be heard by a Bench of Judges.

Which else can appoint vacation bench?

  • The High Courts and trial courts too have Vacation Benches to hear urgent matters under their jurisdiction.

Has vacation benches made any historic judgments?

  • Vacation Benches of the Supreme Court have also authored historical decisions.
  • One of the best known is when a Vacation Bench Judge in June 1975, refused PM Indira Gandhi’s plea to stay an Allahabad High Court decision setting aside her election – a decision which triggered the Emergency.
  • A Constitution Bench of the court had heard the triple talaq case during vacation days.

Issues with court vacations

  • Huge pendency: Extended frequent vacations is not good optics, especially in the light of mounting pendency of cases and the snail’s pace of judicial proceedings.
  • Creating further delays: For an ordinary litigant, the vacation means further unavoidable delays in listing cases.

Arguments in favour

  • Rejuvenation of judges: Lawyers have often argued that in a profession that demands intellectual rigour and long working hours — both from lawyers and judges — vacations are much needed for rejuvenation.
  • Long working hours: Judges typically work for over 10 hours on a daily basis. Apart from the day’s work in court from 10.30 am to 4 pm, they also spend a few hours preparing for the next day.
  • Preparing for judgments: A frequently-made argument is that judges utilise the vacation to write judgments.
  • Courts not in session: Another argument is that judges do not take leave of absence like other working professionals when the court is in session.
  • Socialization: Family tragedies, health are rare exceptions, but judges rarely take the day off for social engagements.
  • No impact on pendency: Data show that the Supreme Court roughly disposes of the same number of cases as are instituted before it in a calendar year.

Reforming the vacation clause

  • In 2000, the Justice Malimath Committee, set up to recommend reforms in the criminal justice system, suggested that the period of vacation should be reduced by 21 days.
  • It suggested that the Supreme Court work for 206 days, and High Courts for 231 days every year.
  • In its 230th report, the Law Commission of India headed by Justice A R Lakshmanan in 2009 called for reform in this system.
  • Considering the staggering arrears, vacations in the higher judiciary must be curtailed by at least 10 to 15 days and the court working hours should be extended by at least half an hour, it said.
  • In 2014, when the Supreme Court notified its new Rules, it said that the period of summer vacation shall not exceed seven weeks from the earlier 10-week period.

 

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Indian Navy Updates

Missile destroyer INS Mormugao commissioned into Indian Navy

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: INS Mormugao

Mains level: Indian navy modernization

mormugaon

Indian Naval Ship (INS) Mormugao (Pennant 67), a P15B stealth-guided missile destroyer was commissioned into the Indian Navy.

INS Mormugao 

  • This was the second ship to be inducted as a part of the four ‘Visakhapatnam’ class destroyers.
  • It is indigenously designed by the Navy’s in-house organisation Warship Design Bureau and constructed by Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in the country’s financial capital Mumbai.
  • The ship was named after a key port in the Indian state of Goa, it was inducted on the eve of Goa Liberation Day.
  • The ship was first launched in September 2016 and began sea trials last year on December 19 which coincided with the day that Goa was liberated from Portuguese rule six decades earlier with December 18 marking the launch of Operation Vijay by the Indian Armed Forces in 1961.
  • Singh also paid tributed former defence minister, the late Manohar Parrikar who had launched INS Mormugao in 2016.

Features of INS Mormugao

  • The ship measures 163 metres by 17 metres and has the ability to fight in nuclear, biological, as well as chemical (NBC) warfare due to its total atmospheric control system (TACS).
  • Additionally, with a displacement of 7,400 tonnes, the INS Mormugao is loaded with state-of-the-art weapons.
  • It will be operated by a crew of at least 350 which would include 50 officers and 250 sailors.
  • Over 75 per cent of the ship’s content was manufactured and developed in India, either directly or designed and developed by Indian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) or through strategic tie-ups.
  • It is capable of achieving speeds of 30 knots (55 km/hour) as it is propelled by four powerful gas turbines in a ‘combined gas and gas’ (COGAG) configuration.

Combat weaponry

  • INS Mormugao includes weapons like BrahMos surface-to-surface missiles and Barak-8 surface-to-air missiles.
  • It is also fitted with a modern surveillance radar which helps provide target data to the ship’s weapon system.
  • Additionally, the ship’s weaponry also includes indigenously-developed rocket launchers, torpedo launchers and ASW helicopters like Sea King or HAL Dhruv.

Historic significance of Mormugao Port

  • Even as a port, Mormugao has contributed significantly to the growth of India’s maritime trade.
  • Even today, it is one of the oldest and largest ports in the country and will retain this special place due to the services it provides be it Mormugao fort or Mormugao port.
  • It is landmark since the 17th century Maratha campaign against the Portuguese under Chhatrapati Sambhaji (Ch. Shivaji Maharaj’s son).

Back2Basics: Project PB15

  • P15B destroyers is a class of four ships built by the country’s MDSL with INS Visakhapatnam (Pennant D66), commissioned last year in November as the year.
  • These ships are set to be more advanced than the Kolkata class under the project named 15A which comprised INS Kolkata, INS Kochi, and INS Chennai.
  • The contract for the ships was signed back in 2011 and under Project 15B they were to be named after four major Indian cities like Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal, and Surat.
  • A group of ships with similar tonnage, usage, capabilities, and weaponry are referred to as a ship’s ‘class’.
  • P15B destroyers incorporate new design concepts for improved survivability, seakeeping and manoeuvrability.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

Why banyan, peepal trees live longer?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Multiple Signs of Adaptive-evolution (MSA)

Mains level: NA

banyan

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal have found out the carried out whole genome sequencing of banyan and peepal from leaf tissue samples.

Science behind long life: Multiple Signs of Adaptive-evolution (MSA)

  • Scientists identified 25,016 coding gene sequences in banyan and 23,929 in peepal.
  • Both trees faced a population bottleneck around 0.8 million years ago and evolved genes with multiple signs of adaptive evolution (MSA).
  • In banyan, the MSA genes are mainly involved in root growth, pollen tube and seed development, leaf formation, cell wall synthesis, metabolism and other developmental processes.

How MSA prolongs the life?

  • Disease resistance and other stress tolerance gene families showed expansion as well as high expression, contributing to the plants’ long lifespan.
  • The MSA genes of peepal are associated with root cell elongation, cell proliferation, seed and pollen tube growth, lateral organ development, controlling flowering time, metabolism and intracellular transport.
  • The team zeroed in on 17 MSA genes in banyan and 19 MSA genes in peepal that are mainly related to well-developed morphology, and tolerance against drought, oxidative stress and pathogens.
  • Genes involved in growth-regulating auxin signalling and plant senescence-regulating pathways also showed evolutionary signatures.
  • Also, 88% and 89% of the MSA genes in banyan and peepal trees, respectively, are associated with tolerance against biotic and abiotic stress responses.
  • This, in turn, helps these plants to survive when faced with environmental challenges.

 

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Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

How can mRNA vaccines help fight cancer?

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: mRNA Vaccine

Mains level: Not Much

mrna

The results of a trial of an experimental cancer vaccine built on the mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) platform, made by Moderna and MSD (Merck&Co.), have shown promising results.

What is mRNA?

mrna

  • Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a single-stranded RNA (Ribo Nucleic Acid) molecule that is complementary to one of the DNA strands of a gene.
  • The mRNA is an RNA version of the gene that leaves the cell nucleus and moves to the cytoplasm where proteins are made.
  • During protein synthesis, an organelle called a ribosome moves along the mRNA, reads its base sequence, and uses the genetic code to translate each three-base triplet, or codon, into its corresponding amino acid.

What are mRNA vaccines?

  • mRNA vaccines work by introducing a piece of mRNA that corresponds to a viral protein, usually a small piece of a protein found on the virus’s outer membrane.
  • Individuals who get an mRNA vaccine are not exposed to the virus, nor can they become infected with the virus by the vaccine.
  • As part of a normal immune response, the immune system recognizes that the protein is foreign and produces specialized proteins called antibodies.
  • Antibodies help protect the body against infection by recognizing individual viruses or other pathogens, attaching to them, and marking the pathogens for destruction.
  • Once produced, antibodies remain in the body, even after the body has rid itself of the pathogen, so that the immune system can quickly respond if exposed again.

How does the vaccine work?

  • The personalized cancer vaccine uses the same messenger-RNA technology that was used to produce the COVID vaccine.
  • It allows the body’s immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells, in this case melanoma, but with the hope that it could lead to new ways to fight other types of cancers too.

Why is it a significant feat?

  • The cancer vaccine showed a 44% reduction in the risk of dying of cancer or having the cancer progress.
  • As a personalized cancer vaccine, it is tailor-made for every patient.
  • As a consequence, it is expected to be very expensive to make.
  • But oncologists across the world have welcomed this as an exciting new opportunity in cancer care.

 

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Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

Disparities in Climate Change Financial Responsibility

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Updates on COP27 and climate finance

Mains level: COP27, climate finance, role of developed and developing countries, and India's stand

Financial

Context

  • Extreme weather events are becoming more prevalent with each passing year and countries are increasingly taking cognizance of this. Yet, there remains a rift between developing and developed countries, largely on account of asymmetries between the incidence of and the financial responsibility assumed for climate change.

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Background: Rift between developed and developing countries

  • Historical emission by developed countries: It is estimated that 92 per cent of excess historical emissions are attributable to developed countries.
  • Burden on developing countries: Yet the economic impact of climate change is disproportionately borne by vulnerable developing countries. The 58 vulnerable countries (or V20) account for 5 per cent of global emissions while the costs incurred are significant.
  • UNEP estimates that efforts on climate adaptation would require $160-340 billion by 2030. But, current financial flows are inadequate, with developing countries receiving only a third of what is required.
  • The dual costs of shifting away from fossil fuels and that of climate catastrophes are expected to further chip away at fiscal resilience as developing countries reel under the pressures of slowdown, inflation and excess sovereign debt.

Financial

COP27 decisions on accelerating finance

  • Recognized the need of transforming the financial system: In its draft decision, the UN highlighted that to meet the scale of funding will require a transformation of the financial systems, structures and processes. It will require engaging with all financial actors.
  • Recognized discontent of green climate fund: In the past there have been funding facilities such as the Green Climate Fund, which were meant to support adaptation and mitigation. But there is wide discontent with the pace and extent of access to such facilities.
  • Announcement of Loss and Damage (L&D) fund: The announcement of a Loss and Damage (L&D) fund stole the attention. However, reflections from past experiences are essential.

Challenges on developing inclusive financial structure

  • Visible reluctance to contribute among big economies: The institutional architecture of multilateral funds has been demonstrably slow to deliver. Then there is the visible reluctance to contribute among the big economies. To restore its lost legitimacy, the US made several announcements at COP27 but its lack of support to the L&D fund and financing of the global shield meant to support vulnerable countries to address risks of climate change must be factored in.
  • Mismatch between financial expectations, regulations and society’s requirement: As the demands placed on economies dwarf public finances, it is intuitive to expect private capital to step up. For decades, developing countries have competed to attract private capital leading to frail legal and tax systems. Even as private capital shifts to the green sectors on account of regulatory action, it is reasonable to expect that its pace will be tempered by financial expectations.
  • National carbon tax is rarely discussed: Interestingly, experts are beginning to see climate actions connected with tax policy. This is evident from the revival of the repeatedly shelved Financial Transaction Tax in the EU. Every package announced involves a redistribution of incomes within and across countries. Therefore, a general overhaul of tax architecture is inevitable. Yet, a dedicated national carbon tax is rarely discussed.

Financial

Hypocrisy of developed countries and India’s call of Phase down

  • Policy makers discussed the inadequacies of the system: COP27 was a spectacle of distractions. Experts from around the world assembled in the comforts of their echo chambers, reciting the promise of the transition, as policy makers reiterated the inadequacies of the system.
  • Growing pressure on developing countries to abandon access to fossil fuel: There is also growing pressure on developing countries to abandon their access to fossil fuels, overlooking the view that a hastened transition can have adverse consequences for growth.
  • Systematically sidelined India’s Phase down Call: There have been repeated questions as to why India chooses to use the term “phase down” and its slow response. The hypocrisy of the developed countries was stark as countries chose to sideline India’s call to phase down all fossil fuels.

Way ahead

  • While the release of the long-term low carbon development strategy is a fitting response from India, there needs to be better guidance on the pathway to net zero.
  • With India chairing the G-20 this year, the question of phasing down coal will be asked repeatedly.
  • There is already growing interest in signing a just energy transition partnership with India.

Conclusion

  • The learnings from COP27 must inform the G-20 presidency. It is also important to remain conscious that dramatic shifts in policy are pursued domestically and not all change is pursued by consensus. The principle of common but differentiated responsibility should not be traded for the promise of finance.

Mains question

In the context of COP27, The principle of common but differentiated responsibility should not be traded for the promise of finance. Comment

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Nuclear Energy

A milestone in fusion energy

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Basics- Fusion energy and applications

Mains level: Read the attached article

fusion

Context

  • For more than nine decades scientists have tried to replicate the process that produces energy for the sun and the stars fusion. On Tuesday, researchers at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in California, USA, announced a milestone in this endeavor.

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fusion

What is the research?

  • Merged two nuclei to produce a heavier nucleus: They merged two nuclei to produce a heavier nucleus. Their reactor produced about 1.5 times more energy than what was used in the process. In all the earlier attempts to harness the power of fusion, the reactors used up more energy than what was produced.
  • It will take at least two decades to be pioneered: But scientists say that it will be at least two decades before the process pioneered in the California laboratory can be scaled up.
  • Still a great leap where the world is in search of green technologies: Even then, in a world desperately searching for technologies that can power the developmental needs of nations without adding to the GHG load, the breakthrough at NIF has generated excitement.

What is Fusion?

  • Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat.
  • This process occurs in our Sun and other stars.
  • Creating conditions for fusion on Earth involves generating and sustaining a plasma.
  • Plasmas are gases that are so hot that electrons are freed from atomic nuclei.

fusion

What is Fusion Energy?

  • The process releases energy because the total mass of the resulting single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei.
  • The leftover mass becomes energy.

Why is it perceived as energy of the future?

  • Carbon free: Fusion Reactions could one day produce nearly limitless, carbon-free energy, displacing fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources.
  • Efficient: Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.
  • Clean: Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn’t create radioactive waste.

fusion

Why it is considered as significant research, though it will take at least two decades to be commercialized?

  • Countries are shifting towards renewable energies: Several countries are shifting to renewable energies to meet their international climate-related commitments. Yet, power generation currently is responsible for 25-30 per cent of global GHG emissions.
  • Unstable nature of renewables: The inherently unstable nature of renewables means that countries find it very difficult to jettison fossil-fuel energy sources.
  • Nuclear energy is relatively cleaner: Conventionally-produced nuclear energy that uses fission technology is relatively cleaner. But accidents at Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 have raised serious questions over the safety of fission-powered plants. According to the IEA’s best-case scenario, the world’s nuclear energy generation capacity is likely to double by 2050 compared to 2020.

Conclusion

  • The global body has repeatedly flagged concerns about the efficacy of the nuclear reactors by and large in the US and Europe given that about two-thirds of them have been in operation for more than 30 years. It has also maintained that the realisation of the best-case scenario would require significant investments in innovative nuclear technologies.

Mains question

Q. Recently researchers at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in USA tried to replicate the process that produces energy for the sun and the stars fusion, discuss the significance of this research.

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Telecom and Postal Sector – Spectrum Allocation, Call Drops, Predatory Pricing, etc

Need to ensure that the digital gateways do not become gatekeepers of services

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: NA

Mains level: Digital gateways, market dominance of big tech and government regulations

digital

Context

  • The ease of living enabled by digital technologies has turned digital innovations into essential services for the common public. Considered a novelty earlier, the internet has become a necessity for most day-to-day affairs.

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Internet access and restrictions

  • To enable access to the internet, various gateways have come up in the last few decades in the form of telecom service providers, personal computers and smartphones, operating systems, etc.
  • However, when these gateways enable and restrict access to other gateways or networks, the openness of the internet is threatened.
  • They then shift roles from being a facilitator to a regulator, from being a gateway to a gatekeeper. Hence, the need for a code of conduct or regulation arises to keep the playing field level and accessible to all.

digital

Analysis: Telecoms and Government

  • Telecom service providers: Telecom companies have been instrumental in providing a gateway to essential communication services such as voice calls, internet data, and text messages.
  • Government measures to regulate telecoms: We have seen governments across the world take measures from time to time to regulate these entities to ensure democratic access for the public. If this code of conduct was not enforced on these gateway providers, the internet would not be what it is today. These providers would have turned into gatekeepers, and the internet would have been controlled by them, thwarting innovation and its democratic expansion.
  • Code of conduct cannot catch up the pace of emerging digital tech: With the rate at which digital technologies are evolving, the code of conduct and regulations can’t catch up with the new gateway providers that are emerging. One such example is distribution platforms for smartphone applications.
  • Benchmarks set by bigtechs helps to bring some hygiene in smartphone apps: The two prominent operating systems emerging for smartphones, Google and Apple, enjoy a lion’s share of the app store market. They brought in good practices to ensure basic hygiene for smartphone applications, maintained quality benchmarks for the content on their operating systems, and safeguarded the interests of their users.
  • Lack of full proof regulation would be a slippery slope: Though, without proper regulations to oversee how they decide on what should be weeded and whose interests should be guarded, it’s a slippery slope.

Policy on Net Neutrality put forwarded by Indian Government 

  • Enforcing a code of conduct on telecoms: Closer home, another example of the enforcement of this code of conduct on providers was when the Indian government came out with the policy on Net Neutrality which, inter-alia, stipulates that telecom networks should be neutral to all the information being transmitted through it.
  • Meaning of Net Neutrality: Networks should treat all communication passing through them equally, independent of their content, application, service, device, sender, or recipient address. Adopting Net Neutrality ensured that we took a democratic stance against Big Tech.

digital

Questionable practices of distribution platforms

  • Practices without consent of its users: Various practices range from restrictions on payment gateways, advertising choices, app policies and various other aspects of an application or business that could be considered discriminatory in both principle and practice.
  1. For instance, a case of Goggle’s Update: Recently a report placed before the Competition Commission of India found Google Play Store’s payments policy “unfair and discriminatory”. As per an update in Google’s Play Store billing policy in September 2020, all applications on its platform were mandated to use its payment services for any kind of in-app payments or subscriptions.
  2. Similar case of Apple’s appstore: Similar concerns have been raised for Apple’s App Store, with both platforms said to be charging up to 30 per cent commission on payments processed.
  • Market dominance and unilateral control over smartphone apps by the bigtechs: Google and Apple dominate the global market share of smartphone operating systems (OS). This has enabled them to garner unilateral control over the publishing of smartphone applications on their OS.
  • Developers are forced to bend to the diktats of these bigtech gatekeepers: Bigtechs force developers to make changes to their applications or resort to using their proprietary advertising engines if they wish their applications to see the light of day. As is evident from the overnight change in Google’s billing policy, various smartphone application-dependent businesses and developers continue to remain vulnerable to such internal business policy changes on these platforms.

European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) sets an example

  • Recognising these concerns: The European Union has recently enacted the Digital Markets Act; it is expected to be implemented by early 2023.
  • Aims to keep digimarket open for competition: The Digital Markets Act regulation aims to keep digital markets innovative and open to competition, through ex-ante regulation.
  • Prohibit anti-competitive practices: The DMA will prohibit the implementation of the most harmful anti-competitive practices by the largest digital platforms.
  • Objective is to maintain balance: The objective is to balance the relationship between these platforms that control access to digital markets and the companies that offer their services there.

Conclusion

  • The Indian government has taken a huge leap forward in maintaining its sovereignty through the path-breaking and disruptive digital public goods it has created. Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker, and CoWIN are just a few names that adorn this list. However, there is still a wide dependence on various digital offerings enabled by multinational Big Tech companies. It is the need of the hour for the government to devise appropriate regulations to ensure a level playing field and not let the innovating gateways turn into tyrannical gatekeepers.

Mains Question

Q. India is the largest consumer of wireless internet. Analyze the role of big tech service providers in this and the role of government in ensuring a level playing field for all.

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Trade Sector Updates – Falling Exports, TIES, MEIS, Foreign Trade Policy, etc.

Rupee Settlement Mechanism draws interest from more nations

Note4Students

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level: Rupee Settlement System for International Trade

Mains level: Read the attached story

rupee

India’s rupee trade settlement mechanism, a means of using rupees instead of dollars and other big currencies for international transactions, is attracting interest from more countries.

More countries are interested

  • Tajikistan, Cuba, Luxembourg and Sudan have begun talking to India about using the mechanism.
  • They have shown interest in opening special rupee accounts, called vostro accounts.
  • Opening of these accounts needs approval from the Reserve Bank of India.
  • It has already been used by Russia following the imposition of sanctions on Moscow over the Ukraine war.

Rupee Settlement System for International Trade

  • Banks acting as authorized dealers for such transactions would have to take prior approval from the regulator to facilitate this.
  • All exports and imports under the invoicing arrangement may be denominated and invoiced in Rupee.
  • The exchange rate between the currencies of the two trading partner countries may be market determined.
  • Exporters and importers can now use a Special Vostro Account linked to the correspondent bank of the partner country for receipts and payments denominated in rupees.
  • These accounts can be used for payments for projects and investments, import or export advance flow management, and investment in Treasury Bills subject to Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA).
  • Also, the bank guarantee, setting-off export receivables, advance against exports, use of surplus balance, approval process, documentation, etc., related aspects would be covered under FEMA rules.

Benefits of such a mechanism

  • Trade facilitation: This will also facilitate trade with countries like Russia which are facing sanctions.
  • FOREX savings: India imports more than it exports so the country will also save foreign currency under the new arrangement.
  • Rupee appreciation: The rupee is at a historic low against the dollar. It will also help stabilize rupee.
  • Mitigating war impact: Payments had become a pain point for exporters immediately after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, especially after Russia was cut off from the SWIFT payment gateway.
  • Convertibility easing: We see this as a first step towards 100% convertibility of rupee.
  • Energy security: It will also help buy discounted crude oil from Russia, which now accounts for 10% of all imported crude.
  • Export promotion: As such, the new mechanism will help India promote its exports.

Which countries would prefer this system?

  • War mongering Russia: For now, it looks like trade settlements in rupee will be limited to countries like Russia and Iran who are facing sanctions from the West
  • Bankrupt Sri Lanka: SL is going through economic turmoil and India has been consistently extending lines of credit to SL.
  • Immediate neighbors: Other countries may include immediate neighbors of India.

Rupees over Dollars: Why countries would prefer Rupees?

  • At a very simplistic level, this is like two Indians deciding to use an alternative mode of exchange that they have come up with, instead of using rupees.
  • In other terms, this is similar to the barter system.
  • The main reason for countries to want to trade with India in rupees is this:
  1. USD has been going through a phase of strength against most currencies in the world
  2. Strong USD performance has essentially made imports expensive for most countries
  3. Sri Lanka, which is going through one of its worst economic crises in decades, is a glaring example of a country in which the economy has come to a halt due to a drastic fall in forex reserves
  • While the Sri Lankan Rupee has declined over 83 percent against the US Dollar, its fall against the Indian Rupee has been lower at 70 percent.
  • So instead of paying 83 percent more to make purchases in USD, Sri Lanka can pay in Indian Rupees and save some money.

Challenges

  • Trade surplus countries’ preference: The question that RBI and the Indian government will have to answer is this – why would countries with a trade surplus with India want to trade in rupees?
  • Negative trade balance: China had a $73-billion trade surplus with India in 2021-22 – that is, Indian imports from China exceeded its exports to China by $73 billion.
  • Idle money lying useless: If China were to trade with India in rupees, it would have Indian rupees worth $73 billion (about ₹5.77 lakh crore) sitting idle in its Rupee Vostro accounts in an Indian bank.
  • Few countries interested: Countries whose exports to India are more than imports, will not be too enthusiastic to trade in rupees, especially if the difference is huge as in the case of China.

 

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