Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MDR TB
Mains level: Paper 2- TB challenge
Context
Historical importance of good nutrition was ignored by the modern therapist who tried to control TB initially with streptomycin injection, isoniazid and para-aminosalisylic acid. In the ecstasy of finding antibiotics killing the germs, the social determinants of disease were ignored.
Lack of patient-centric TB treatment
- With more drug arsenals such as rifampicin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide, the fight against TB bacteria continued, which became multidrug resistant.
- The regimes and the mode of delivery of drugs were changed to plug the loopholes of non-compliance of patients.
- Blister packs of a multi-drug regime were provided at the doorstep, and the directly observed treatment/therapy (DOT) mechanism set up.
- Many of the poor discontinued blister-packaged free drugs thinking that these were “hot and strong” drugs not suited for the hunger pains they experienced every night.
Role of nutrition in dealing with TB
- India has around 2.8 million active cases. It is a disease of the poor.
- And the poor are three times less likely to go for treatment and four times less likely to complete their treatment for TB, according to WHO, in 2002.
- The fact is that 90% of Indians exposed to TB remain dormant if their nutritional status and thereby the immune system, is good.
- When the infected person is immunocompromised, TB as a disease manifests itself in 10% of the infected.
- The 2019 Global TB report identified malnutrition as the single-most associated risk factor for the development of TB, accounting for more cases than four other risks, i.e., smoking, the harmful use of alcohol, diabetes and HIV.
- The work and the findings of a team at the Jan Swasthya Sahayog hospital at Ganiyari, Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh established the association of poor nutritional status with a higher risk of TB.
Way forward
- Chhattisgarh initiated the supply of groundnut, moong dhal and soya oil, and from April 2018, under the Nikshay Poshan Yojana of the National Health Mission.
- All States began extending cash support of ₹500 per month to TB patients to buy food. This amount needs to be raised.
- Nutrition education and counselling support: Without simultaneous nutrition education and counselling support, this cash transfer will not have the desired outcome.
Conclusion
Food is a guaranteed right for life under the Constitution for all citizens, more so for TB patients. Thus, the goals of reducing the incidence of TB in India and of reducing TB mortality cannot be reached without addressing undernutrition.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Black Sea mapping
Mains level: Read the attached story
The sinking of the huge Russian warship Moskva whether due to a Ukrainian missile strike or, as Russia claims, a fire on board — is a serious setback for Russia in the Black Sea.
About Black Sea
- The famed water body is bound by Ukraine to the north and northwest, Russia and Georgia to the east, Turkey to the south, and Bulgaria and Romania to the west.
- It links to the Sea of Marmara through the Bosphorus and then to the Aegean through the Dardanelles.
Significance of Black Sea for Russia
- Domination of the Black Sea region is a geostrategic imperative for Moscow.
- Black Sea has traditionally been Russia’s warm water gateway to Europe.
- For Russia, the Black Sea is both a stepping stone to the Mediterranean.
- It acts as a strategic buffer between NATO and itself.
- It showcases the Russian power in the Mediterranean and to secure the economic gateway to key markets in southern Europe.
- The Rhine-Main-Danube canal connects the Black Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea and the port of Odessa serves as a vital link between Ukraine and the outside world.
Black Sea in the Ukraine war
- Russia has been making efforts to gain complete control over the Black Sea since the Crimean crisis of 2014.
- During the ongoing invasion, the domination of the Black Sea has been a major Russian objective, along with the land bridge to connect Russia and Crimea.
- As such, there have been intense efforts to capture Mariupol, the Sea of Azov port in the breakaway eastern Ukrainian oblast of Donetsk.
- Mariupol appeared close to falling to the Russians.
Sinking of the Moskva
- The sinking of the Moskva is believed to be the worst loss in the history of naval warfare.
- It was sunk by shore-based anti-ship cruise missiles which took advantage of bad weather and used decoy UAV attacks to defeat the ship’s air defence systems.
- It demonstrates the success of outside-the-box measures adopted by Ukraine in the war.
Must answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Consider the following pairs:
| Sea |
Bordering country |
| 1. Adriatic Sea |
Albania |
| 2. Black Sea |
Croatia |
| 3. Caspian Sea |
Kazakhstan |
| 4. Mediterranean Sea |
Morocco |
| 5. Red Sea |
Syria |
Which of the pair given above are correctly matched? (CSP 2020)
(a) 1, 2 and 4 only
(b) 1, 3 and 4 only
(c) 2 and 5 only
(d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Oil Bonds
Mains level: Burden of oil bonds on exchequer
Over the last one year, as retail prices of petrol, diesel and other petroleum products have surged, the government has attracted criticism.
Finance Minister has sought to counter such criticism by claiming that the current government cannot bring down taxes (and, as a consequence, prices) because it has to pay for the oil bonds issued by the previous regime.
What are oil bonds?
- An oil bond is an IOU (I owe you), or a promissory note issued by the government to the OMCs, in lieu of cash that the government would have given them so that these companies don’t charge the public the full price of fuel.
- An oil bond says the government will pay the oil marketing company the sum of, say, Rs 1,000 crore in 10 years.
- And to compensate the OMC for not having this money straightaway, the government will pay it, say, 8% (or Rs 80 crore) each year until the bond matures.
- Thus, by issuing such oil bonds, the government of the day is able to protect/ subsidise the consumers without either ruining the profitability of the OMC or running a huge budget deficit itself.
Why were they issued?
- When fuel prices were too high for domestic consumers, governments in the past often asked oil marketing companies (OMCs) to avoid charging consumers the full price.
- But if oil companies don’t get paid, they would become unprofitable.
- To address this, the government said it would pay the difference.
- But again, if the government paid that amount in cash, it would have been pointless, because then the government would have had to tax the same people to collect the money to pay the OMCs.
- This is where oil bonds come in.
How much of fuel prices is tax?
- There are two components to the domestic retail price — the price of crude oil itself, and the taxes levied on this basic price.
- Together they make up the retail price.
- The taxes vary from one product to another. For instance, as of now, taxes account for 50% of the total retail price for a litre of petrol, and 44% for a litre of diesel.
How much of the UPA-era oil bonds has the NDA government paid back?
- There are two components of oil bonds that need to be paid off: the annual interest payment, and the final payment at the end of the bond’s tenure.
- By issuing such bonds, a government can defer the full payment by 5 or 10 or 20 years, and in the interim just pay the interest costs.
- Table 1 shows that between 2015 and 2021, the NDA government has fully paid off four sets of oil bonds — a total of Rs 13,500 crore.
- Each year, the BJP government had also had to pay the interest rate on all bonds that have not matured. Chart 1 shows the amount paid towards interest payment each year.
- Between 2014 and 2022, the government has had to spend a total of Rs 93,686 crore towards interest as well as the principal.
Still, isn’t it a bad idea to issue such bonds?
- Former PM Manmohan Singh was correct in noting that issuing bonds just pushed the liability to a future generation.
- But to a great extent, most of the government’s borrowing is in the form of bonds.
- This is why each year the fiscal deficit (which is essentially the level of government’s borrowing from the market) is so keenly tracked.
- Further, in a relatively country like India, all governments are forced to resort to the use of bonds of some kind.
- Take the current NDA government itself, which has issued bonds worth Rs 2.79 lakh crore (twice the amount of oil bonds) to recapitalise public sector banks.
- These bonds will be paid by governments till 2036.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MTS Project
Mains level: Migration tracking in India
In a first-of-its-kind project in the country, the Maharashtra government has developed a website-based migration tracking system (MTS) application to map the movement of vulnerable seasonal migrant workers through individual unique identity numbers.
What is MTS Project?
- The MTS project is envisaged to maintain the continuity of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) like nutrition supply, immunisation and health check-up etc. to migrant beneficiaries.
- It is targeted for children aged up to 18 years, lactating mothers and pregnant women registered with the Anganwadi centres.
- Their migration will be tracked for ensuring the portability of the ICDS for their families in their destination districts within or outside the state until their return to their native places.
Need for such a project
- Distress-driven seasonal migration of workers is quite prevalent in Maharashtra.
- Due to lockdowns, a large number of women and children had got displaced and missed on their nutrition, vaccination and other services under the ICDS scheme.
- Like other states, does not have any institutionalized mechanism to enumerate it.
- So, through this initiative, the state has sought to capture the data of intra-district, inter-districts and interstate migration of such workers.
Working details of the project
- Anganwadi workers have to first register the migrating beneficiaries from their areas on the MTS website app on their laptops or mobile phones by using the workers’ identity cards like Aadhaar, PAN card, or ration cards etc.
- Other than names, the Anganwadi workers have to mention the age, weight, and height of the migrant children, who will be placed in nutritional categories like severe, moderate or acute.
- Depending on this data, the nutrition benefits will be allocated to the children in their new locations.
- On the MTS app, the Anganwadi workers would also collect details about various informal sectors — such as brick kilns, agriculture labour, stone crushing, construction work, sugarcane cutting or sugar factory — where the migrant workers are headed along with their children.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: E-DAR portal
Mains level: Road safety issues in India
The Ministry of Roads, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has developed the portal named ‘e-DAR’ (e-Detailed Accident Report).
Why such move?
- Road accidents continue to be a leading cause of death, disabilities and hospitalization in the country despite our commitment and efforts.
- India ranks first in the number of road accident deaths across the 199 countries and accounts for almost 11% of the accident related deaths in the World.
E-DAR portal
- It is designed in consultation with insurance companies to provide instant information on road accidents with a few clicks and help accelerate accident compensation claims, bringing relief to victims’ families.
- Digitalised Detailed Accident Reports (DAR) will be uploaded on the portal for easy access.
- The web portal will be linked to the Integrated Road Accident Database (iRAD).
- From iRAD, applications to more than 90% of the datasets would be pushed directly to the e-DAR.
- Stakeholders like the police, road authorities, hospitals, etc., are required to enter very minimal information for the e-DAR forms.
- Thus, e-DAR would be an extension and e-version of iRAD.
Its working
- The portal would be linked to other government portals like Vaahan and would get access to information on driving licence details and registration of vehicles.
- For the benefit of investigating officers, the portal would provide geo tagging of the exact accident spot along with the site map.
- This would notify the investigating officer on his distance from the spot of the incident in the event the portal is accessed from any other location.
- Details like photos, video of the accident spot, damaged vehicles, injured victims, eye-witnesses, etc., would be uploaded immediately on the portal.
- Apart from the state police, an engineer from the Public Works Department or the local body will receive an alert on his mobile device and the official concerned will then examine the accident site.
Check on fake claims
- The e-DAR portal would conduct multiple checks against fake claims by conducting a sweeping search of vehicles involved in the accident, the date of accident, and the First Information Report number.
Various moves to curb road accidents
- Several initiatives have been taken by the MoRTH which continues to implement a multi-pronged road safety strategy.
- It is based on Education, Engineering, Enforcement and Emergency Care consisting inter-alia of setting up Driver training schools, creating awareness, strengthening automobile safety standards, improving road infrastructure, carrying out road safety audit etc.
- High priority has been accorded to rectification of black spots.
- A major initiative of the Ministry in the field of Road Safety has been the passing of the Motor Vehicle Amendment Act, 2019.
- It focuses on road safety include, inter-alia, stiff hike in penalties for traffic violations and electronic monitoring of the same, enhanced penalties for juvenile driving, cashless treatment during the golden hour etc.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: JAM
Mains level: Paper 2- Need for data sharing
Context
While this year’s Economic Survey focuses on improving the quality and quantity of data for better and quicker assessment of the state of the economy, it pays little attention to access to the data by citizens, ignoring the criticality of data for a healthy and informed public discourse on issues of policy relevance.
Strengthening data architecture
- The government has been proactively strengthening the data architecture for tackling corruption and better targeting of beneficiaries.
- Since 2014, the scope of UIDAI has seen a huge expansion.
- JAM (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) has private details of citizens.
- The government is sufficiently empowered to collect and use information about its citizens touching all the spheres of their life.
- Along with traditional instruments such as the Census, sample surveys and registers of various departments, the government is now armed with real-time data.
Erosion in citizens’ right to access data and widening information gap
- Delayed release of survey data: The citizen’s right to access relevant data for quality public discussion seems to be gradually eroding.
- In this process, the government has refused to hold itself accountable.
- This is evident from repeated events of delayed release of various survey data.
- For example, data from the consumption survey 2017-18 has not yet been released.
- Similarly, the first Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS 2017-18) was released only after the 2019 general election.
- Undermining of scientific data: Further, instead of relying on the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), a systematically designed survey for estimation of industrial sector GDP, the government has started to depend on self-reported, unverified data submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs since 2011.
- Now that ASI is nearly redundant for official estimation purposes, the future of this database is uncertain.
- Another example of undermining the scientific database is the delay in the release of Water and Sanitation Survey data 2018.
- The information gaps in the area of migration are well documented.
- Information gap: While the JAM architecture and pandemic induced tracking tools allow for the mapping of individuals, researchers and the civil society do not have access to that information, which is useful to ascertain the level and prevalence of migration across regions within the country.
Conclusion
This data divide between the state and its citizens is a potential threat to the smooth functioning of a democracy. Without bridging this data gap, the scope of modern technology for tracking development cannot be realised.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Dealing with the hate speech
Context
Hate speech is at the root of many forms of violence that are being perpetrated and has become one of the biggest challenges to the rule of law and to our democratic conscience.
Consequences of hate speech
- Electoral mobilisation along the communal line: One of the most visible consequences of hate speech is increased electoral mobilisation along communal lines which is also paying some electoral dividends.
- Hate speech, in itself, must be understood and treated as a violent act and urgently so.
- With elected members currently sitting in the legislative assemblies and Parliament giving political sanction to citizens mobilised into mob violence and complicit public officials, hate speech is becoming the dominant mode of public political participation.
Role of Election Commission
- In 2019, the Supreme Court reprimanded the Election Commission, calling it “toothless” for not taking action against candidates engaging in hate speech during the election campaigns in UP.
- The Commission responded by saying that it had limited powers to take action in this matter.
- So far, the Supreme Court does not appear to have acted decisively in response to allegations of hate speech in electoral campaigns, indicating that the EC must assume more responsibility and the EC has argued that in matters of hate speech, it is largely “powerless”.
- In any case, the EC’s role is confined to the election period.
Legal provisions to deal with hate speech
- The Indian Penal Code, as per Sections 153A, 295A and 298, criminalises the promotion of enmity between different groups of people on grounds of religion and language, alongside acts that are prejudicial to maintaining communal harmony.
- Section 125 of the Representation of People Act deems that any person, in connection with the election, promoting feelings of enmity and hatred on grounds of religion and caste is punishable with imprisonment up to three years and fine or both.
- Section 505 criminalises multiple kinds of speech, including statements made with the intention of inducing, or which are likely to induce, fear or alarm to the public.
- It covers incitement of violence against the state or another community, as well as promotion of class hatred.
Recommendations and suggestions
- The Law Commission in its 267th report published in March 2017, recommended introduction of new provisions within the penal code that specifically punish incitement to violence in addition to the existing ones.
- Responsibility of Media: In recent years, hate speech in all its varieties has acquired a systemic presence in the media and the internet, from electoral campaigns to everyday life.
- This epidemic of mediatised hate speech is, in fact, a global phenomenon.
- According to the Washington Post, 2018 can be considered as “the year of online hate”.
Conclusion
Enough damage has been done. We cannot wait another day to address this growing challenge.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Zonal Councils
Mains level: Paper 3- Inter-State collaboration for dealing with pollution crisis
Context
With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) governing both Delhi and Punjab, collaboration for clean air should be the mantra for both State governments.
Impact of air pollution on Delhi and Punjab
- Punjab is home to nine of the 132 most polluted cities in the country identified by the Central Pollution Control Board.
- In 2019, Delhi and Punjab together faced economic losses estimated to be approximately ₹18,000 crore due to worsening air pollution.
- Therefore, by collaborating for clean air, both States can ensure improvements in citizen well-being and labour productivity.
How can the two States collaborate?
1] Arrive at a common understanding of sources
- Those in charge of the two States must talk.
- Setting aside their disagreements on the contribution of stubble burning to Delhi’s air pollution, the States should arrive at a common understanding of sources polluting the region.
2] Create platforms for knowledge exchange
- Cross-learning on possible solutions: A common knowledge centre should be set up to facilitate cross-learning on possible solutions to developmental challenges in both States.
- Such a centre would especially benefit Punjab given the host of measures that the Delhi government has already taken to improve air quality in Delhi.
- Information on air quality levels and source assessment studies are critical in developing long-term strategies for pollution mitigation.
3] Collaborate to execute proven solutions
- Co-design solutions: The two States could co-design solutions that would improve air quality.
- Institutionalise a task force: They could jointly institutionalise a task force comprising experts from State-run institutions to pilot these solutions and assess their impact.
- This would ensure wider acceptance of the proposed solution, which has not been the case in the past.
- For instance, the PUSA bio-decomposer (developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute), has received mixed reviews from farmers.
- The decomposer only makes sense for early maturing varieties of paddy, as even with the decomposer, stubble would take between 25 to 30 days to decompose.
- Therefore, it is of little use in high burn districts such as Sangrur, Punjab, where late-maturing paddy varieties are dominant.
4] Create a market for diversified crop products
- Moving away from paddy-wheat cycle: Shifting away from the ‘paddy-wheat cycle’ through crop diversification is a sure shot solution to stubble burning.
- But, the lack of an assured market for agricultural products, other than wheat and paddy, has acted as a deterrent.
- For years now, the Delhi government has toyed with the idea of introducing ‘Aam Aadmi kitchens’ in Delhi.
- These community kitchens could potentially incorporate crops other than wheat and paddy in meals offered.
5] Extending inter-State cooperation to other States in Indo-Gangetic plains
- Both State governments should assert the need for extending inter-State cooperation to other States in the Indo-Gangetic plains in different inter-State forums.
- One such forum is the Northern Zonal Council which has representation from Chandigarh, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
- Both Delhi and Punjab must use this platform to highlight the need for coordination with neighbouring States to alleviate the pollution crisis.
Conclusion
With a collaborative plan of action, we can be optimistic about cleaner air in the years to come.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Solomon Islands
Mains level: Chinese expansion in Pacific
A recent leaked document has revealed that the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific has reached a deal with China. This has raised alarms in Washington and Canberra.
Where is the Solomon Islands located?
- The Solomon Islands is a sovereign country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and northwest of Vanuatu.
- Its capital, Honiara, is located on the largest island, Guadalcanal.
- It is part of the ethnically Melanesian group of islands in the Pacific and lies between Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.
- The country takes its name from the Solomon Islands archipelago, which is a collection of Melanesian islands that also includes the North Solomon Islands (a part of Papua New Guinea).
- It excludes outlying islands, such as the Santa Cruz Islands and Rennell and Bellona.
Quick recap of its past
- The islands, which were initially controlled by the British Empire during the colonial era, went through the hands of Germany and Japan.
- It then went back to the UK after the Americans took over the islands from the Japanese during World War II.
- The islands became independent in 1978 to become a constitutional monarchy under the British Crown, with a parliamentary system of government.
- Nevertheless, its inability to manage domestic ethnic conflicts led to close security relations with Australia, which is the traditional first responder to any crisis in the South Pacific.
What are the contents of the proposed deal?
- The Framework Agreement has the potential to disturb the established security mechanisms in the South Pacific region.
- The document explicitly enables Beijing to send its “police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces” to the islands on the latter government’s request, or if the former sees that the safety of its projects and personnel in the islands are at risk.
- The document also provides for China’s naval vessels to utilise the islands for logistics support.
- There have been speculations in the wake of this revelation that China might be building its next overseas naval base in Solomon Islands after Djibouti.
What is the rationale for the Solomon Islands’ increasing proximity to China?
- The Solomon Islands had cultivated strong ties with Taiwan, which ended with the emergence of the current government in Honiara.
- In 2019, the regime change switched Taiwan for China.
- This was supposedly after Beijing offered half a billion US dollars in financial aid, roughly five times what Taiwan spent on the islands in the past two decades.
- It has been alleged by the pro-Taiwan Opposition that the incumbent government has been bribed by China.
Why is China interested in the Solomon Islands?
- Isolating Taiwan: The Solomon Islands was one among the six Pacific island states which had official bilateral relations with Taiwan.
- Supporter in UN: The small Pacific island states act as potential vote banks for mobilising support for the great powers in international fora like the United Nations.
- Larger EEZ: These states have disproportionately large maritime Exclusive Economic Zones when compared to their small sizes.
- Natural resources: Solomon Islands, in particular, have significant reserves of timber and mineral resources, along with fisheries.
- Countering US: But more importantly, they are strategically located for China to insert itself between America’s military bases in the Pacific islands and Australia.
What does this mean for the established geopolitical configuration in the region?
- Diminishing western influence: The Pacific islands, in the post-World War II scenario, were exclusively under the spheres of influence of the Western powers, in particular the US, UK, France and Australia and New Zealand.
- Inserting into western hegemony: All of them have territorial possessions in the region, with the three nuclear powers among them having used the region as a nuclear weapons testing ground.
- Shifting of dependencies: The smaller island nations of the region are heavily dependent on them, especially Australia as it is a resident power.
Damage control by West
- Australia has reacted with boosted finances, and by extending its current security mission till 2023 when the islands will host the Pacific Games.
- The US has responded by considering reopening its embassy in Honiara after a long 29-year gap.
- New Zealand has shed its typical restraint about China and has criticised it for attempting to militarise the Pacific islands.
Chinese response to Indo-Pacific
- It is to be noted that China’s rise in the South Pacific is not without opposition.
- AUKUS is a recent example of how the established powers are reacting; although, to what extent they can mobilize individual governments against China is questionable.
- Significant discontent has been brewing within and among the Pacific island states against China’s economic inroads and its adverse impact on their vulnerable economic and political systems.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NATO
Mains level: Russian contention with NATO
One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies warned NATO that if Sweden and Finland joined the US-led military alliance then Russia would have to bolster its defences in the region, including by deploying nuclear weapons.
Why in news?
- Finland, which shares a 1,300-km border with Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the NATO alliance.
Why do they want to join NATO?
- The possible accession of Finland and Sweden into NATO to get collective Western security against Russia — would be one of the biggest strategic consequences of the Ukraine war.
- Finland gained independence from Russia in 1917 and fought two wars against it during Second World War during which it lost some territory to Moscow.
- Sweden has not fought a war for 200 years and post-war foreign policy has focused on supporting democracy internationally, multilateral dialogue and nuclear disarmament.
What is NATO?
- NATO is a military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949.
- It sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.
- Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- NATO has spread a web of partners, namely Egypt, Israel, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and Finland.
Why was it founded?
Ans. Communist sweep in Europe post-WWII and rise of Soviet dominance
- After World War II in 1945, Western Europe was economically exhausted and militarily weak, and newly powerful communist parties had arisen in France and Italy.
- By contrast, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with its armies dominating all the states of central and Eastern Europe.
- By 1948 communists under Moscow’s sponsorship had consolidated their control of the governments of those countries and suppressed all non-communist political activity.
- What became known as the Iron Curtain, a term popularized by Winston Churchill, had descended over central and Eastern Europe.
Ideology of NATO
- NATO ensures that the security of its European member countries is inseparably linked to that of its North American member countries.
- It commits the Allies to democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law, as well as to the peaceful resolution of disputes.
- It also provides a unique forum for dialogue and cooperation across the Atlantic.
What is Article 5 and why is it needed?
- Article 5 was a key part of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty, or Washington Treaty, and was meant to offer a collective defence against a potential invasion of Western Europe.
- It states: (NATO members) will assist the party or parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
- However, since then, it has only been invoked once, soon after the 9/11 attack in the United States.
Why has Article 5 not been invoked this time?
- The reason is simple: Ukraine is a partner of the Western defence alliance but not a NATO member.
- As a result, Article 5, or the Collective Defence Pledge, does not apply.
- While NATO has said it will not be sending troops to Ukraine, it did invoke Article 4, which calls for a consultation of the alliance’s principal decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council.
- In its history, it has only been activated half a dozen times.
- But the fact that this time around eight-member nations chose to invoke it was enough to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation at a global level.
What may prompt NATO to invoke Article 5?
- NATO will invoke Article 5 only if Russia launches a full-blown attack on one of its allies.
- Some top US officials have warned of the impact of some of Russia’s cyberattacks being felt in NATO countries.
- When you launch cyberattacks, they don’t recognize geographic boundaries.
- Some of that cyberattack could actually start shutting down systems in eastern Poland.
But what is NATO’s problem with Russia?
- Russia has long been opposed to Ukraine’s growing closeness with European institutions, particularly NATO.
- The former Soviet republic shares borders with Russia on one side, and the European Union on the other.
- After Moscow launched its attack, the US and its allies were quick to respond, imposing sanctions on Russia’s central bank and sovereign wealth funds.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: LPA, Indian Monsoon
Mains level: Not Much
India is likely to receive a normal monsoon for the fourth consecutive year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in its first Long Range Forecast (LRF) for this year.
What is Long Period Average (LPA)?
- The IMD predicts a “normal”, “below normal”, or “above normal” monsoon in relation to a benchmark “long period average” (LPA).
- The LPA of rainfall is the rainfall recorded over a particular region for a given interval (like month or season) average over a long period like 30 years, 50 years, etc.
- LPA refers to the average rainfall recorded from June to September for the entire country, the amount of rain that falls every year varies from region to region and from month to month.
- The IMD’s prediction of a normal monsoon is based on the LPA of the 1971-2020 period, during which India received 87 cm of rain for the entire country on average.
- It has in the past calculated the LPA at 88 cm for the 1961-2010 period, and at 89 cm for the period 1951-2000.
Why LPA is needed?
- The IMD records rainfall data at more than 2,400 locations and 3,500 rain-gauge stations.
- Because annual rainfall can vary greatly not just from region to region and from month to month, but also from year to year within a particular region or month.
- An LPA is needed to smooth out trends so that a reasonably accurate prediction can be made.
- A 50-year LPA covers for large variations in either direction caused by freak years of unusually high or low rainfall, as well as for the periodic drought years.
- It also takes into account the increasingly common extreme weather events caused by climate change.
Range of normal rainfall
The IMD maintains five rainfall distribution categories on an all-India scale. These are:
- Normal or near normal, when the percentage departure of actual rainfall is +/-10% of LPA, that is, between 96-104% of LPA;
- Below normal, when departure of actual rainfall is less than 10% of LPA, that is 90-96% of LPA;
- Above normal, when actual rainfall is 104-110% of LPA;
- Deficient, when departure of actual rainfall is less than 90% of LPA; and
- Excess, when the departure of actual rainfall is more than 110% of LPA.
Also read:
Various terms related to Indian Monsoon
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: SVANidhi se Samriddhi Program
Mains level: Atmanirbhar package
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has launched ‘SVANidhi se Samriddhi’ program in additional 126 cities across 14 States/ UTs.
About PM SVANidhi Scheme
- The Pradhan Mantri Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi Scheme is aimed at benefiting over 50 lakh vendors who had their businesses operational on or before March 24 2020.
- It is a Central Sector Scheme.
- The scheme was announced by Finance Minister as a part of the economic package for those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
- The loans are meant to help kick-start activity for vendors who have been left without any income since the lockdown was implemented on March 25.
- The scheme was valid until March 2022.
What is SVANidhi se Samriddhi Program?
- SVANidhi se Samriddhi program was started to provide social security benefits to street vendors for their holistic development and socio-economic upliftment.
- Quality Council of India (QCI) is the implementing partner for the programme.
- Under the program, socio-economic profiling of PMSVANidhi beneficiaries and their families is conducted to assess their eligibility for 8 Government of India’s welfare schemes and facilitate sanctions of eligible schemes.
These schemes include:
- Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana,
- PM Suraksha Bima Yojana,
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,
- Registration under Building and other Constructions Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act (BOCW),
- Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana,
- National Food Security Act (NFSA) portability benefit – One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC),
- Janani Suraksha Yojana, and
- Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY).
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 1995 UNIDROIT
Mains level: Paper 1- Dealing with the issue of idol theft
Context
Building an inventory of antiquities should be the first step in dealing with the problem.
Measures taken by the worldwide organisations
- CAG in its 2013 Report stated that “131 antiquities were stolen from monuments/sites and 37 antiquities from Site Museums from 1981 to 2012″
- It added that in similar situations, worldwide, organisations took many more effective steps:
- 1] Checking of catalogues of international auction house(s),
- 2] Posting news of such theft on websites.
- 3] Posting information about theft in the International Art Loss Registry.
- 4] Sending photographs of stolen objects electronically to dealers and auction houses and intimate scholars in the field.
- Lack of legal provisions: The report also stated that the ASI had never participated or collected information on Indian antiquities put on sale at well-known international auction houses viz. Sotheby’s, Christie’s, etc. as there was no explicit provision in the AAT (Antiquities and Art Treasures) Act, 1972 for doing so.
International conventions and treaties
- India is a signatory to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. (We ratified it in 1977).
- Perhaps we should also sign the 1995 UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.
Lessons from Italy
- Italy also suffers and several stolen antiquities have been returned by the US to Italy.
- That being the case, it shouldn’t be surprising that many best practices originate in Italy.
- The following list is illustrative.
- (1) A specific law on protecting cultural heritage, with enhanced penalties;
- (2) Centralised management before granting authorisation for archaeological research;
- (3) Specialisation in cultural heritage for public prosecutors;
- (4) An inter-ministerial committee for recovery and return of cultural objects;
- (5) MOUs and bilateral agreements with other countries and international organisations to prevent illegal trafficking;
- (6) Involvement of private organisations and individuals in protection;
- (7) A complete inventory of moveable and immoveable cultural heritage, with detailed catalogues;
- (8) Monitoring and inspection of cultural sites; and
- (9) Centralised granting of export requests.
Way forward
- One could say the 2013 CAG Report did a bit of (8), but that was a one-off and isn’t a permanent solution.
- This isn’t a binary, nor is it possible to accomplish everything overnight. However, incrementally, one can move towards (1), (3), (4), (5), (6), (8) and, especially, (7).
- We should start with that inventory.
Conclusion
While fingers can rightly be pointed at Western museums and auction-houses (this isn’t only about the colonial era), there is internal connivance.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Languages in the Eighth Schedule
Mains level: Paper 2- Eighth Schedule
Context
Language sensitivity has been a feature of selfhood in the case of every Indian language.
Sensitivity to language
- From ancient times, a sensitivity to language difference has almost been the core of Dravidic self-hood.
- A similar sensitivity existed among the speakers of Prakrits in ancient times.
- It was in one of the Prakrits that Mahavir had presented his teachings in the sixth century BCE.
- Eighteen centuries later, Acharya Hemachandra, a major Jain scholar, poet, mathematician and philosopher, produced his Desinamamala, a treatise on the importance of Prakrit words used in Gujarat of his times as against those from Sanskrit.
- Mahatma Gandhi, who defined the idea of selfhood for India in Hind Swaraj (1909), chose to write this iconic book in Gujarati.
Constitutional provision
- The official language used for communication between the States shall be the language that has been in use at the time of adoption of the Constitution.
- The move from English to Hindi can take place only if, ‘two or more states agree’ for the shift.
- Article 344 (4) provides for a ‘Committee consisting of thirty members’, ‘twenty’ from the Parliament and ‘ten’ from State assemblies, for safeguarding language-related provisions.
The distribution between two ministries
- The functions and the scope of the committee, as laid down by the Constitution, are further clarified by the practice of distribution of language as a subject between two Ministries, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry and the Home Ministry.
- The scope of the HRD Ministry extends to education and the promotion of cultural expression.
- The Home Ministry’s scope extends to safeguarding relations of the States with the ‘union’, protecting the linguistic rights of language minorities and the promotion of Hindi.
- The last of these, the Constitution states, has to be ‘without interference with other languages.
Data on language decline
- In 2011, Hindi speakers accounted for 43.63% of the total population, with a total of 52.83 crore speakers.
- In 1971, the number was 20.27 crore, accounting for 36.99% of the total population.
- Between 2001 and 2011, the growth in proportion of the population was 2.6%.
- The next most spoken language, Bangla, had negative growth.
- It was spoken by 8.30% of Indians in 1991, 8.11% in 2001 and by 8.03% in 2011.
- Telugu, which slid from 7.87% in 1991, to 7.19% in 2001 and 6.70% in 2011, has a similar story to tell.
- Tamil recorded 6.32% of the total population in 1991, 5.91% in 2001 and 5.70% in 2011.
- The only major language to show decadal growth (though small) was Gujarati.
- And the only small yet scheduled language to show good growth was Sanskrit.
Reasons for Hindi’s growth
- The 52.83 crore speakers of Hindi (as recorded in 2011) included not just the speaker of ‘Hindi’ but also those of more than 50 other languages.
- Bhojpuri and most languages of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand have also been pushed into the Hindi package.
- Had the Census not included these other languages under Hindi, the strength of Hindi speakers would have gone down to about 39 crore, — just a little under 32% of the total population in 2011 — and would have looked not too different from those of other scheduled languages.
- The data for English speakers is far more truthful. Census 2011 reports a total of 3,88,793 Indians as English speakers (2,59,678 men and 1,29,115 women).
Hindi in comparison to other languages in the Eighth schedule
- Among the languages included in the Eighth Schedule, Hindi falls within the younger lot of languages.
- On the other hand, Tamil, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Oriya, Sindhi, Nepali and Assamiya have a much longer/older history.
- As a language of knowledge too, Tamil, Kannada, Bangla and Marathi (with their abundance of encyclopaedias and historical literature), quite easily outshine Hindi.
Conclusion
A language evolves slowly and cannot be forced to grow by issuing ordinances.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Forex reserves, BoP
Mains level: Economic crisis in India's neighbourhood
In an unusual development, the Nepali PM sacked the head of its central bank accusing him of leaking sensitive information and for failing to perform his duties.
What is the news?
- Nepal’s forex reserves have plummeted by 18.5% to $9.58 billion in March from $11.75 billion in July 2021.
- The current forex reserves are not enough to pay the government’s import bills beyond the next seven months or so.
- Nepal’s central bank recently announced a ban on the import of vehicles and other luxury items, citing liquidity crunch and declining foreign exchange reserves.
- It is rumoured that the Nepali economy will go into a crisis like Sri Lanka.
Why have Nepal’s forex reserves fallen?
- Nepal’s forex reserves situation appears healthy as of now as the country, unlike Sri Lanka, is not burdened by external debt.
- There are, however, concerns that the lower middle-income economy is being battered repeatedly by external factors and that may precipitate a crisis sometime soon.
- Nepal which is blessed with one of the finest tourism sectors in South Asia, because of the Himalayan mountain range, suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic as global tourist flow fell.
- This is followed by the global energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
- This has put extraordinary inflationary pressure on the economy.
How bad is the situation?
- Nepal’s economy is highly dependent on imports as the country buys a range of merchandise goods apart from fuel.
- The prevailing weak economic indicators mean that Nepal is spending from its forex reserves faster than it can save.
- Economists contend that Nepal will soon have double-digit inflation. All economic indicators are declining.
- The real shortfall in forex reserves is because of the decline in foreign remittances which suffered during the pandemic when the Nepalese workforce abroad suffered job losses.
Can the energy scene in Nepal escalate economic woes?
- Nepal’s history shows that any uncertainty regarding fuel can trigger serious internal problems as was visible during the 2015-16 blockade when disruption of fuel supply from India.
- Nepal’s primary supplier of energy is Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
- Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) pays IOC in two installments every month, on the 8th and the 23rd.
- The NOC has been in crisis for months as high global prices depleted the company’s savings, prompting it to approach the government for a lifeline.
- The Government of Nepal has agreed to provide NOC the necessary amount to continue supplies from IOC.
- NOC’s financial status makes it unattractive for banks and as a result the public sector company does not enjoy confidence in the market.
Paradoxical situation
- The government is in a paradoxical situation: It has to control imports of products from which it earns the highest amount of tax revenue.
- Luxury items are the country’s major source of revenue.
- If revenue shrinks, an economic crisis could be imminent.
Impact on elections
- Nepal will hold local level polls next month which will be followed by general elections towards the end of the year.
- The election process requires considerable financial allocation and Nepal has received support in the past for elections from international donors like the USAID.
- These donors help in carrying out pre-election staff training and logistics that are part of any democratic process.
- But there are uncertainties considering the bleak financial situation.
- It will require at least 10 billion Nepali rupees for the election process and that will mean diversion of a large amount of resources for the democratic process.
Quick recap: Sri Lankan Crisis
- Like Nepal, Sri Lanka is a country with a small economy. The Sri Lankan economy is around 1.5 times bigger than Nepal’s.
- Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was in the making since it suffered a terrorist attack in 2019 which hit its tourism industry, a major contributor to the GDP.
- Then came the pandemic, which further wiped out tourism incomes. Then there were debt burdens in dollars.
- The political leadership failed to act to address the looming crisis.
- The Rajapaksha dynasty made some wrong moves—it cut taxes and started printing money, hugely devaluing the currency.
- In what looked like a well-intentioned move towards organic farming, the county banned imports of chemical fertilisers. Paddy production failed. The country ran out of money to pay its bills.
Is Nepal really going the way of Sri Lanka?
- In Nepal, the situation is not as bleak.
- Nepal’s current forex reserves are enough to pay for imports of goods and services for about seven and a half months.
- Tourism, one of the major foreign currency earners, was hit hard by the pandemic, but its gradual revival has given a glimmer of hope.
- Since Nepal’s currency is pegged to the Indian rupee, a massive devaluation shock is unlikely. Tourism is also rebounding, giving a fillip to foreign currency reserves.
Back2Basics: Foreign Exchange Reserves
- Foreign exchange reserves are important assets held by the central bank in foreign currencies as reserves.
- They are commonly used to support the exchange rate and set monetary policy.
- In India’s case, foreign reserves include Gold, Dollars, and the IMF’s quota for Special Drawing Rights.
- Most of the reserves are usually held in US dollars, given the currency’s importance in the international financial and trading system.
- Some central banks keep reserves in Euros, British pounds, Japanese yen, or Chinese yuan, in addition to their US dollar reserves.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Renewable Energy in India
Mains level: India's ambitious RE targets and their success
India is likely to miss its 2022 target of installing 100 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity a/c to a report. This is because of rooftop solar lagging behind, the authors say.
India’s Solar Policy
- Since 2011, India’s solar sector has grown at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 59% from 0.5GW in 2011 to 55GW in 2021.
- The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), also known as the National Solar Mission (NSM), was commenced in January 2010.
- It marked the first time the government focussed on promoting and developing solar power in India.
- Under the scheme, the total installed capacity target was set as 20GW by 2022.
- In 2015, the target was revised to 100GW and in August 2021, the government set a solar target of 300GW by 2030.
Solar energy: India among the peers
- India currently ranks fifth after China, U.S., Japan and Germany in terms of installed solar power capacity.
- As of December 2021, the cumulative solar installed capacity of India is 55GW, which is roughly half the renewable energy (RE) capacity (excluding large hydro power) and 14% of the overall power generation capacity of India.
- Within the 55GW, grid-connected utility-scale projects contribute 77% and the rest comes from grid-connected rooftop and off-grid projects.
What does the new report say?
- As of April, only about 50% of the 100GW target, consisting of 60GW of utility-scale and 40GW of rooftop solar capacity, has been met.
- Nearly 19 GW of solar capacity is expected to be added in 2022 — 15.8GW from utility-scale and 3.5GW from rooftop solar.
- Even accounting for this capacity would mean about 27% of India’s 100GW solar target would remain unmet.
- A 25GW shortfall in the 40GW rooftop solar target, is expected compared to 1.8GW in the utility-scale solar target by December 2022.
- Thus, it is in rooftop solar that the challenges of India’s solar-adoption policy stick out.
What is Solar Rooftop?
- A solar photovoltaic (PV) system mounted on a rooftop of a building is a mini-power requirement or feed into the grid.
- The size of the installation varies significantly depending on the availability of space, amount of electricity consumed by the property and the ability or willingness of the owner to invest the capital required.
- In December 2015, the government launched the first phase of the grid-connected rooftop solar programme to incentivise its use in residential, institutional and social areas.
- The second phase, approved in February 2019, had a target of 40GW of cumulative rooftop solar capacity by 2022, with incentives in the form of central financial assistance (CFA).
- As of November 2021, of the phase 2 target of 4GW set for the residential sector, only 1.1GW had been installed.
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Reasons for rooftop solar adoption not meeting targets
- In its early years, India’s rooftop solar market struggled to grow, held back by lack of consumer awareness, inconsistent policy frameworks of the Centre/ State governments and financing.
- Factors impeding rooftop-solar installation include:
- Pandemic-induced supply chain disruption to policy restrictions
- Regulatory roadblocks
- Limits to net-metering (or paying users who give back surplus electricity to the grid)
- Taxes on imported cells and modules
- Unsigned power supply agreements (PSAs) and banking restrictions
- Financing issues plus delays in or rejection of open access approval grants and
- The unpredictability of future open access charges
Other issues: India’s storage capacity
- About 34 GW / 136 GWh of battery storage is expected to be installed by 2030, according to the Central Electricity Authority of India.
- This capacity would be used for RE integration, demand-side and peak load management services.
Present state of progress
- Recently, there has been a sharp rise in rooftop solar installations due to falling technology costs, increasing grid tariffs, rising consumer awareness and the growing need for cutting energy costs.
- These factors are expected to persist giving a much-needed boost to this segment.
- Going ahead, rooftop solar adoption is expected to proportionally increase as land and grid-connectivity for utility solar projects are expected to be hard to come by.
Significance of solar power to India’s commitment
- Solar power is a major prong of India’s commitment to address global warming according to the terms of the Paris Agreement, as well as achieving net zero, or no net carbon emissions, by 2070.
- PM at the COP Glasgow, in November 2021, said India would be reaching a non-fossil fuel energy capacity of 500 GW by 2030 and meet half its energy requirements via renewable energy by 2030.
- To boost the renewable energy installation drive in the long term, the Centre in 2020 set a target of 450GW of RE capacity to be achieved by 2030, within which the target for solar was 300GW.
- Given the challenge of integrating variable renewable energy into the grid, most of the RE capacity installed in the latter half of this decade is likely to be based on wind solar hybrid (WSH).
Way forward
- Supportive policies and innovative technological approaches are needed for the sector to achieve its potential.
- Indian policymakers need to plan for rooftop solar plus storage, rather than rooftop solar alone with the grid as storage (net / gross metering).
- The declining cost of storage solutions, along with that of rooftop solar solutions, is likely to change the future of the Indian power sector.
- Several countries such as Australia, the United States, Germany, among others have already endorsed solar power with battery storage.
- Energy storage, therefore, represents a huge economic opportunity for India.
- The creation of a conducive battery manufacturing ecosystem on a fast track could cement India’s opportunity for radical economic and industrial transformation in a critical and fast-growing global market.
Also read:
[Sansad TV] Global Solar Grid
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Time Bank System
Mains level: Read the attached story
This newscard is an excerpt of an article originally published in the Down To Earth.
Defining Work
- ‘Work’ was defined by Spanish economist Lourdes Beneria in 1999 as a paid economic activity linked to the market.
- Both paid and unpaid work, however, are constituents of our economic life.
- This leads to an ecosystem where unpaid and care work, performed for long hours, becomes invisible.
Narrative of Unpaid Work
- Women perform 75 per cent of the world’s unpaid care work, and unfortunately it is not accounted for in a nation’s gross domestic product.
- The largest source of women’s unpaid labour is domestic work.
- These include household chores like grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning as well as caregiving to the children, elderly and infirm.
- In the absence of this, survival is perceived as a challenge for both individuals and society as every economy is dependent on unpaid labour and care services.
Time Poverty and unpaid work
- This share of labour has a cost not only in terms of the unrecognised monetary value but also time poverty.
- Time poverty is defined as “not having enough time” to pursue interests beyond unpaid domestic / care work.
- Time poverty has a direct bearing on the ability of women to contribute to or participate in the labour market and / or public or political life.
- Time poverty is also responsible for insufficient political participation of women globally.
Issues with unpaid work
- Unpaid labour is not considered ‘real work’ and is often devalued by the men and society, who directly benefit from it.
- The situation leads to emotional strain and combined with the time poverty, the costs often outweigh the benefits.
- Often, women do not find enough time or motivation to participate in activities outside the household.
- Female labour force participation rate is on a declining trend in major economies.
The conception of Time Banking
- Time banking comes forward as a social innovation for increased empowerment of women.
- Traditionally, household chores are expected to be performed by women. Women in general are more time poor than men.
- Empowerment of women is limited by time poverty. In this context the concept of time banking was introduced.
- Time banking can be viewed as an opportunity cost of an unpaid activity in terms of the time sacrificed.
How does time bank function?
- In time banks, one hour equals one time credit, regardless of the service being performed or the level of each person’s skill or gender.
- The time banks are time-sharing cooperative among women, with people helping each other meet their day-to-day needs and address challenges in their community.
- For each hour of a service exchanged, the service provider receives one, time credit and the beneficiary pays one, time credit.
- The time bank networks tap into unused resources of people in the community to fill unmet needs of each other.
Significance of time banking for women
- Time-banking can benefit women, their families and their communities by alleviating time poverty through the system of exchange services through time credits.
- The system has the potential to improve the livelihoods of women and their families, thereby increasing overall economic activities.
- There were time banks operating in more than 30 countries in the Americas, Africa and Europe as well as in Russia and China.
- Most case studies showed that time banks have functioned most as community-building tools, economic drivers or within elder care.
- They can also be utilised to prioritise women’s political participation.
- This has a direct impact on women empowerment and entails benefits to individual women, their families and communities.
Time bank networks can be utilised for increasing political participation of women in the following ways:
- Directly: Through utilisation of time credits for campaigning for office
- Indirectly: By educating themselves or others on local issues or understanding their rights, accessing government programs and mobilising others.
Way forward
- Across the world, there are examples in our everyday life of intra- and inter-family examples of informal time-sharing.
- However, for tangible results on a community or economy scale, the concept needs scaling up and formalisation.
- Time banking, if made a formal arrangement, has the potential of community building, civic inclusiveness and increasing economic activity.
- Above all, it has the potential to act as the catalyst to women empowerment by formally recognising the economic value of unpaid labour and tapping the same across communities.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Pithead and Non-pithead plants
Mains level: Coal shortage and Power Crisis
Temperatures have shot up across many parts of the country with the early onset of summer, leading to a rise in the demand for power. Instances of power outages have been reported in several states.
Why is there a concern around power supply?
- The demand for power has soared.
- Several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, and Maharashtra, are facing power outages.
- The coal stock with power generation companies (gencos) is not adequate to meet the rising demand.
How bad is the coal shortage?
- Normally, a power plant must maintain 26 days of coal stock.
- However, at present, several power plants are reporting critical levels of coal stock.
- Data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) shows that 97 power plants out of the 173 that the CEA tracks have critical levels of coal inventory.
- Of the 173, there are 155 non-pithead plants or power plants that are not near coal mines.
- These have an average of 28% of the stock compared to the normal scenario.
- The 18 plants that are near coal mines have an average stock of 81% of the normal requirement.
Note: Non-pithead plants are power plants where the coal mine is more than 1,500 kilometres away.
Is coal shortage the only reason for a power crisis?
- The lack of railway rakes to transport coal is also a major problem.
- The state power distribution companies (discoms) have also not been able to clear their dues to power generation companies.
- The covid-19 pandemic has now weakened the finances of many states, raising doubts about the ability of state-owned discoms to clear their dues.
What has led to the coal shortage?
- Several factors have led to the shortage, including the stagnation of production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) after the bumper production in FY15 and FY16.
- There seems to be a tussle between the Centre and coal-rich states, which delay environment and land acquisition clearances.
- High dues of discoms towards gencos and the eventual delay in gencos paying CIL has complicated the scenario.
How has the Centre responded?
- CIL has made efforts to raise supply to the power sector by reducing its dispatch to other industries.
- The power ministry said that to avoid long-distance transport, a ‘tolling’ facility would be allowed.
- In this system, state gencos can allow other thermal power plants near a coal mine to utilize their coal linkages to generate and transmit power back.
- This is an easier alternative compared to transportation.
- Further, the states need to ensure that imported coal-based plants operate at reasonable tariffs.
Try answering this PYQ:
Consider the following statements:
- Coal sector was nationalized by the Government of India under Indira Gandhi.
- Now, coal blocks are allocated on lottery basis.
- Till recently, India imported coal to meet the shortages of domestic supply, but now India is self- sufficient in coal production.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
Post your answers here.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gram Swaraj Scheme
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a proposal to continue the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), a scheme for improving the governance capabilities of Panchayati Raj institutions, till 2025-26.
What is RGSA?
- The RGSA, a centrally sponsored scheme, was first approved by the Union Cabinet in 2018 for implementation from 2018-19 to 2021-22.
- It is a unique scheme proposed to develop and strengthen the Panchayati Raj System across India in rural areas.
- The objective of the campaign is to promote social harmony, spread awareness about pro-poor initiatives of the government, and reach out to poor households to enroll them as also to obtain their feedback on various welfare programs.
- The main central components of the scheme included incentivization of panchayats and mission mode project on e-Panchayat including other activities at central level.
Scope of the scheme
- RGSA is extend to all States and Union Territories (UTs) of the country. It includes institutions of rural local government in non-Part IX areas.
- Part IX provides for a 3 tier Panchayat system, which would be constituted in every state at the village level, intermediate level and district level.
- This provision brought uniformity in the Panchayati Raj structure in India.
Areas where Part IX is not applicable:
As per Article 243M of the Constitution, provisions of Part IX of the Constitution are not applicable to:
- Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas referred to in Article 244.
- The States of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
- The hill areas in the State of Manipur for which District Councils exist. (In these areas, district councils and various types of village-level bodies are in existence)
- Panchayats at the district level to the hill areas of the District of Darjeeling in the State of West Bengal.
- Provision of the Article 243D with respect to reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes is not applicable to the State of Arunachal Pradesh.
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Purpose of extension
The scheme would work towards:
- Poverty-free and enhanced livelihood in villages
- Healthy villages, child-friendly villages
- Water-sufficient villages
- Clean and green villages
- Self-sufficient infrastructure in villages
- Socially-secure villages with good governance and engendered development
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vaccination
Mains level: NA
Almost everyone vaccinated for Covid-19 over the last 16 months will remember that he or she received a quick prick in the upper arm.
Why vaccines are generally administered into muscle?
- This is because most vaccines, including those for Covid-19, are most effective when administered through the intramuscular route into the upper arm muscle, known as the deltoid.
- There are several reasons, but the most important one is that the muscles have a rich blood supply network.
- This means whenever a vaccine carrying an antigen is injected into it, the muscle releases the antigen, which gets dispersed by the muscular vasculature, or the arrangement of blood vessels in the muscle.
- The antigen then gets picked up by a type of immune cells called dendritic cells, which function by showing antigens on their surface to other cells of the immune system.
- The dendritic cells carry the antigen through the lymphatic fluid to the lymph node.
Role of T Cells
- T Cells also called T lymphocyte, type of leukocyte (white blood cell) that is an essential part of the immune system.
- T cells are one of two primary types of lymphocytes—B cells being the second type—that determine the specificity of the immune response to antigens (foreign substances) in the body.
- Through the course of research over the years, it is understood that the lymph nodes have T cells and B cells — the body’s primary protector cells.
- Once this antigen gets flagged and is given to the T cells and B cells that is how we start developing an immune response against a particular virus.
- It could be any of the new viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, or the previous viruses which we have been running vaccination programs for.
Other options for vaccination
- Conversely, if the vaccine is administered into the subcutaneous fat tissue [between the skin and the muscle], which has a poor blood supply, absorption of the antigen vaccine is poor and therefore one may have failed immune response.
- Similarly, the additives which could be toxic, could cause a local reaction.
- The same thing could happen when the vaccine is administered intradermally (just below the outermost skin layer, the epidermis).
- Hence, the route chosen now for most vaccines is intramuscular.
- Also, compared to the skin or subcutaneous tissue, the muscles have fewer pain receptors, and so an intramuscular injection does not hurt as much as a subcutaneous or an intradermal injection.
But why the upper arm muscle in particular?
- In some vaccines, such as that for rabies, the immunogenicity — the ability of any cell or tissue to provoke an immune response — increases when it is administered in the arm.
- If administered in subcutaneous fat tissues located at the thigh or hips, these vaccines show a lower immunogenicity and thus there is a chance of vaccine failure.
Why not administer the vaccine directly into the vein?
- This is to ensure the ‘depot effect’, or release of medication slowly over time to enable longer effectiveness.
- When given intravenously, the vaccine is quickly absorbed into the circulation.
- The intramuscular method takes some time to absorb the vaccine.
- Wherever a vaccination programme is carried out, it is carried out for the masses.
- To deposit the vaccine, the easiest route would be the oral route (like the polio vaccine).
- However, for other vaccines that need to be administered intravenously or intramuscularly (enabling wider field-based administration), the intramuscular route is chosen from a public health perspective over the intravenous route.
Which vaccines are administered through other routes?
- One of the oldest vaccines that for smallpox, was given by scarification of the skin.
- However, with time, doctors realised there are better ways to vaccinate beneficiaries.
- These included the intradermal route, the subcutaneous route, the intramuscular route, oral, and nasal routes.
- There are only two exceptions that continue to be administered through the intradermal route.
- These are the vaccines for BCG (Bacillus Calmette–Guérin) and for tuberculosis because these two vaccines continue to work empirically well when administered through the intradermal route.
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