Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: TIbetan issue and its political recognition
The Tibet Policy and Support Act (TPSA) passed by the US Senate earlier this week, bookends a turbulent year in US-China relations.
Must read:
Tibetan Policy and Support Act (TPSA)
Do you think that India’s support for the Tibetan cause is the root cause of all irritants in India-China relations?
TPSA: A backgrounder
- The TPSA is an amended version of the Tibet Policy Act of 2002, which came into existence during the Bush Administration.
- The act once signed into law would make it the official policy of the US Government to oppose any effort by the govt. of the People’s Republic of China to select, educate, and venerate Tibetan Buddhist religious leaders in a manner inconsistent with Tibetan Buddhism.
- The proposed legislation will empower the US Government to impose sanctions on China who might try to interfere in the process of selecting the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama.
US and China, today
- US-China relations have become much more difficult over the last two decades, particularly worsening in the Trump Administration.
- The matters range from the pandemic to trade tariffs and its cross-world coalition-building against Chinese superpower ambitions.
- Earlier in the year, President Donald Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act.
Fuelled by TPSA
- Adding much fuel to the issue, the TPSA introduces stronger provisions on Tibet, plus teeth in the form of a threat of sanctions, including travel bans on Chinese officials.
The Dalai Lama
- Among the most significant amendments is that the TSPA makes it US policy to oppose attempts by Beijing to install its own Dalai Lama in a manner inconsistent with Tibetan Buddhism.
- The legislation makes reference to the Chinese government’s ‘Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas’ in 2007.
- China had earlier insisted that the reincarnation of living Buddhas including the Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations.
Other provisions of TPSA
- The TPSA has introduced provisions aimed at protecting the environment of the Tibetan plateau, calling for greater international cooperation and greater involvement by Tibetans.
- Alleging that China is diverting water resources from Tibet, the TPSA also calls for a regional framework on water security, or use existing frameworks… to facilitate cooperative agreements among all riparian nations.
- While the 2002 Act said the US should establish a “branch office” in Lhasa, the TSPA ups the ante by changing that to a “consulate”.
- It recognizes the Central Tibetan Administration, whose Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay takes credit for ensuring that the Senate took up the legislation for a vote.
Chinese response to TPSA
- China had earlier said the TPSA severely breached international law and basic norms governing international relations, interfered in China’s internal affairs, and sent a wrong message to ‘Tibet independence’ forces”.
- After the passage of the Bill through the Senate, China said it “resolutely opposes” the “adoption of Bills containing such ill contents on China.
India’s present stance on Tibet
- If India is pleased with this latest US barb to China, it has not said so openly.
- India has mostly refrained from playing the Tibet card against China, and like the US, has a one-China policy.
- It was only this year, in the ongoing Ladakh standoff, that it used Special Forces made up almost entirely of Tibetan exiles to occupy strategic heights in Pangong Tso’s south bank.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: BBX11 gene
Mains level: Genetics and its applications
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) have identified a gene that facilitates in the greening of plants.
It would be no surprise to expect a core Biology question in the coming years, if we look at this PYQ:
Q. Which of the following statements are correct regarding the general difference between plant cells and animal cells? (CSP 2020)
- Plant cells have cellulose cell walls whilst animal cells do not.
- Plant cells do not have plasma membrane unlike animals cells which do
- Mature plant cell has one large vacuole whilst animal cell has many small vacuoles
Select the correct answer using the given code below-
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3
BBX11
- The synthesis of chlorophyll in plants is a lengthy, multi-step process.
- When a seedling emerges from under the soil it must quickly synthesize chlorophyll to start supporting its own growth.
- In order to facilitate the quick synthesis of chlorophyll, plants make a precursor of chlorophyll called ‘protochlorophyllide’ in the dark, which glows red when blue light is shone on the plant.
- As soon as the plant comes out into the light from under the soil, light-dependent enzymes convert protochlorophyllide to chlorophyll.
- The two proteins oppositely regulate the ‘BBX11’ gene to maintain optimum levels of ‘BBX11’.
How does it work?
- It plays a crucial role in regulating the levels of protochlorophyllide — an intermediate in the biosynthesis of the green pigment chlorophyll.
- The amount of protochlorophyllide synthesized needed to be proportional to the number of enzymes available to convert them to chlorophyll.
- If there is an excess of free protochlorophyllide, then exposure to light converts it into molecules that cause ‘photobleaching’.
- Thus, it is very important to regulate the amount of protochlorophyllide synthesized by the plant and here comes the vital plant played by the ‘BBX11’ gene.
- If it is less, plants are unable to efficiently ‘green’ in order to harvest sunlight.
Benefits of the research
- The study could have tremendous implications in the agriculture sector in tropical countries like India and can help provide leads to optimize plant growth under stressful and rapidly changing climatic conditions.
- Due to the rapidly changing climatic conditions, farmers in several states in India, especially in Maharashtra, are suffering huge losses in crop yields.
- This often leads to severe distress among the farming community as indicated by the high number of farmer suicides in Maharashtra for the past several years.
- Severe drought, high temperature and high light are some of the major reasons for crop failure. Young seedlings emerging out of the soil are extremely sensitive to high irradiance of light.
- This study can provide leads to optimize plant growth under these stressful conditions.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ammoni compounds and its uses
Mains level: Not Much
Two persons died and several took ill in a major ammonia gas leakage at a fertilizers unit at Prayagraj.
Try this PYQ:
Q. With reference to chemical fertilizers in India, consider the following statements:
- At present, the retail price of chemical fertilizers is market-driven and not administered by the Government.
- Ammonia, which is an input of urea, is produced from natural gas.
- Sulphur, which is a raw material for phosphoric acid fertilizer, is a by-product of all oil refineries.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1,2 and 3
Ammonia
- Ammonia is critical in the manufacturing of fertilizers and is one of the largest-volume synthetic chemicals produced in the world.
- More than 80 per cent of ammonia made is consumed in the manufacturing of fertilizer, and most of the remainder goes into the production of formaldehyde.
- A tri-hydroid of nitrogen (NH3), ammonia is a building block for ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) that is used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer.
Why is it harmful?
- According to experts in Chemistry, ammonia is stored for industrial use in liquid form under high pressure or in gaseous form at low temperature.
- In such cases, the cause of death is always suffocation as in the case of Prayagraj incident, the victims must have been very close to the point of a gas leak.
Effects on the human body
- Ammonia, even in moderate concentration, can cause irritation to eyes, skin, nose and throat.
- It interacts immediately upon contact with moisture present in the skin, eyes, oral cavity, and respiratory tract to form ammonium hydroxide.
- It is very caustic and disrupts the cell membrane lipids, ultimately leading to cellular destruction.
- As cell proteins break down, water is extracted, resulting in an inflammatory response that causes further damage.
Secretion in humans
- Ammonia, which is highly soluble in water, is found in soil, air, and water; it is naturally present in the body.
- It is secreted by the kidneys to neutralize excess acid.
- However, it is highly diluted when in the environment and does not affect the human body to a noticeable level.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Navratnas of Akbar
Mains level: Medieval arts and culture
This newscard is an excerpt from the original article published in The Hindu.
Try this PYQ:
Q.With reference to Mian Tansen, which one of the following statements is not correct?
(a) Tansen was the title given to him by Emperor Akbar.
(b) Tansen composed Dhrupads on Hindu gods and goddesses.
(c) Tansen composed songs on his patrons.
(d) Tansen invented many Ragas.
Who was Rahim?
- Dating back to 1598, during the rule of Akbar, Abdur Rahim Khan I Khanan was one of the Navratna in the court.
- Winning wars with his military training and hearts with his dohas and translated texts — he was a man who survived despite his father Bairam Khan’s assassination when he was just four.
- Meant to be a dedication of a husband to his wife, the tomb ended up housing his own remains too when he died in 1627.
His works
- Apart from writing various dohas, Rahim translated Babar’s memoirs, Baburnama from Chagatai language to the Persian language, which was completed in 998 (1589–90) AD.
- He had an excellent command over the Sanskrit language.
- In Sanskrit, he wrote two books on astrology, Khetakautukam and Dwatrimshadyogavali.
Why in news?
- The tomb is in a run-down situation but undergoing renovation.
- The historical and cultural significance is more than the archaeological and architectural significance, so restoring the dignity of the burial place has been very important.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 243X
Mains level: Paper 2- Making urban local bodies financially strong
The inability of ULBs’ to raise revenue
- Although it is envisaged that municipal revenue should be 1% of GDP, between 2010 and 2018 revenues declined from 0.48% to 0.43%.
- As against the municipal revenue of Rs 4,624 per capita, own-source revenue was only Rs 1,975 in 2018 (ICRIER, 2019).
- This affects the low-levels of municipal services and translates into salary delays for employees.
8-way strategy to increase the revenue of ULBs
1) Increasing the property tax base
- In India, property taxes only account for 0.15% of GDP, whereas in developing economies they account for 0.6% and the global average is 1.04%.
- To double the property tax collection the property tax base needs to be expanded using GIS mapping, cross-checking with building licenses, ration cards, mutations, electricity/gas accounts, and review of exemptions.
- This also needs to cover government properties as per GoI circular 2009 and the SC judgment in Rajkot Corporation vs Railways.
- Similarly, rates need revision in the guiding value for rent or unit area; for instance, in Delhi, rates are fairly low.
- The collection process needs to be automated too.
- ABC (Always best Control) analysis should be done to target the top 10-20% properties, and measures such as attaching bank accounts must be implemented.
2) Upward revision of various fees
- The value capture taxes need to include upward revision of building license fee and new sources like impact fee, as imposed in Telangana, exactions, and betterment levy like the one imposed in Gujarat.
3) Levy advertisement fee
- An advertisement fee needs to be levied.
- Thiruvananthapuram listed the sites and plugged leakages for 33,170 unauthorized boards to double its income from 2018 to 2019.
- South Delhi MC has achieved a three-time increase with revision of rates in a ratio of 1:8 as per location and by dividing the city into clusters.
4) Local fee
- Local fee/charges also have immense potential such as (i) recovery on user charges (water, etc) which is only 20% (ii) right of way from gas/electricity and fiber optic lines, (ii) cell tower, (iii) leasing electricity poles, etc.
5) Participatory funding
- The potential of participatory funding (private sector, CSR, and local community) needs to be tapped.
- This has been done by Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mathura (Hybrid Annuity project), Indore, and Pune.
6) Special attention for assigning and activating the fiscal instrument
- Sixth, small and medium-sized municipal bodies need special attention for assigning and activating fiscal instruments.
- Better mobilization of own sources may also lead to revenue account surplus.
- This has been achieved in Ahmedabad, Pune, etc and it also enables access to the capital market.
7) Revision of Article 243X
- Article 243X needs suitable revision to allow larger inclusion of fiscal instruments above within the scope of a municipality’s own sources.
8) Creating ULBs as per MoHUA’s advisory
- Over 3,000 census towns not having city government need special attention to create ULBs in line with MoHUA’s advisory in 2016.
- It will create an innovative and effective financing framework for sustainable urban development.
Conclusion
Financially strong local bodies hold the key to the development of the country. The steps mentioned here needs to be implemented effectively to make the ULBs financially strong.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/bolster-ulbs-capacity-to-raise-revenue/2157171/
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Mains level: Paper 2- Reforms in the Governing Council of the Central Universities
Central Universities need reforms in their Governing Councils to make them realise their potential.
Central Universities in the need of reforms
- There are 55 central universities.
- These are endowed with prime land, extensive funding from the central government and there is a long line of students waiting to get in.
- However, they are in turmoil. In recent years, six vice-chancellors (VCs) of central universities have been sacked.
- Some of these institutions have seen their glory days, yet increasingly, the energy is going out of the system.
- However, not a single new private university has so far been able to create a true broad-based Vishwa Vidyalaya with the full range of humanities, social and natural sciences, and professional disciplines.
- Therefore, to save academia in India, central universities must be saved.
Organizational structure
- Each of the 55 central universities is governed by a separate Act. but the broad structure is as follows.
- The Visitor of the university is the President of India.
- On his behalf, the Ministry of Education recommends an eminent citizen as the chancellor, whose role is mostly ceremonial.
- The Ministry also constitutes a search committee for the post of VC, which comes up with a list of 3 candidates.
- From this list, the government picks a VC.
- Separately, and through a different process, the governing council (GC) is chosen.
- The governing council (GC) of the university usually have nominees from various stakeholders, including the government, faculty, students, and citizens.
- The university’s work is carried out by the executive council chaired by the VC, who also appoints the registrar.
- A separate finance committee is constituted, headed by a chief finance officer, who is often a civil servant on secondment to the university.
- This arrangement is designed to maintain financial checks and balances.
Issues with the governance
- The GC has no say in the selection of the VC.
- The GC typically meets only once a year and its size is usually very large.[Delhi University has 475 members]
- In theory, the VC presents and gets approval for the annual plan of the university from the GC.
- In practice, after much grandstanding on both sides, the plan is rubberstamped.
- After that, throughout the year, there is the minimal direction or monitoring from the GC, which may or may not meet again.
- There are typically no quarterly updates, and there is little oversight.
- Under the circumstances, the high number of failures should not come as a surprise, since effectively, there is minimal governance.
Comparing with provisions in IIM Bill
- The new IIM Bill very sensibly limits the GC to at most 19 members.
- They are expected to be eminent citizens, with broad social representation and an emphasis on alumni.
- This GC chooses the director, provides overall strategic direction, raises resources, and continuously monitors his or her performance.
- Within the guidelines provided by the GC, the director has full autonomy but also full accountability.
Way forward
- The governing councils of all central universities, IITs, and all other central institutions, need to be restructured by an Act of Parliament.
- The most eminent alumni of these institutions must be brought on their boards.
- The dynamism and exposure that these alumni bring to the table will promptly lead to world-class innovations.
Conclusion
To allow central universities, the IITs and other public institutions to truly blossom, we need to reform their Governance. There is no time to waste.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provisions related to sessions of legislatures
Mains level: Paper 2- Declining number of sittings of state legislature
Recently, Governor turned down the recommendation of the Kerala government to convene the session of the state legislature. It also points to the trend of declining seating of the state legislature and issues with it.
Governor-Government conflict
- The Kerala government made a recommendation to the governor for summoning the state’s legislature for a one-day session.
- The government wanted to discuss the situation arising out of the farmers’ protest in the legislative assembly.
- Media reports suggest that the governor turned down the government on the grounds that there is no emergent situation for which the state assembly should be called to meet at short notice.
- Earlier this year, the Rajasthan governor had rejected the recommendation of the government to call a session.
- The chief minister wanted a session of the legislature called so that he could prove his majority on the floor of the house.
Constitutional provisions
- The Constitution is clear: The government has the power to convene a session of the legislature.
- The council of ministers decides the dates and the duration of the session.
- Their decision is communicated to the governor, who is constitutionally bound to act on most matters on the aid and advice of the government.
- The governor then summons the state legislature to meet for a session.
- The refusal of a governor to do so is a matter of concern.
Declining sittings of the state legislature
- In the last 20 years, state assemblies across the country, on average, met for less than 30 days in a year.
- But states like Kerala, Odisha, Karnataka are an exception.
- The Kerala Vidhan Sabha, for example, has on average met for 50 days every year for the last 10 years.
- The trend across the country is that legislatures meet for longer budget sessions at the beginning of the year.
- Then for the rest of the year, they meet to fulfill the constitutional requirement that there should not be a gap of six months between two sessions.
Why is it a matter of concern
- Close scrutiny: Continuous and close scrutiny by legislatures is central to improving governance in the country.
- Voice to public opinion: Legislatures are arenas for debate and giving voice to public opinion.
- Accountability institutions: As accountability institutions, they are responsible for asking tough questions of the government and highlighting uncomfortable truths. So, it is in the interest of a state government to convene lesser sittings of the legislature and bypass their scrutiny.
- Prevent ordinance: Lesser number of sitting days also means that state governments are free to make laws through ordinances. And when they convene legislatures, there is little time for MLAs to scrutinize laws brought before them.
Way forward
- Convening legislatures to meet all around the year.
- In many mature democracies, a fixed calendar of sittings of legislatures, with breaks in between, is announced at the beginning of the year.
- It allows the government to plan its calendar for bringing in new laws.
- It also has the advantage of increasing the time for debate and discussion in the legislative assembly.
- And with the legislature sitting throughout the year, it gets rid of the politics surrounding the convening of sessions of a legislature.
Conclusion
Continuous and close scrutiny by legislatures is central to improving governance in the country. Increasing the number of working days for state legislatures is a first step in increasing their effectiveness.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Positive Pay System
Mains level: Positive Pay System
With the New Year, a new concept of Positive Pay System for Cheque Truncation System (CTS) will be introduced by the Banking regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) seeking to further augment customer safety in cheque payments.
Try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following is the most likely consequence of implementing the ‘Unified Payments Interface (UPI)’?
(a) Mobile wallets will not be necessary for online payments.
(b) Digital currency will totally replace the physical currency in about two decades.
(c) FDI inflows will drastically increase.
(d) Direct transfer of subsidies to poor people will become very effective.
Positive Pay System
- The concept of Positive Pay involves a process of reconfirming key details of large-value cheques.
- Put simply, cheques will be processed for payment by the drawee bank based on information passed on by its customer at the time of issuance of the cheque.
- When the beneficiary submits the cheque for encashment, the cheque details are compared with the details provided to the drawee bank through Positive Pay.
- If the details match, the cheque is honoured. In case of mismatch in cheque details, the discrepancy is flagged by CTS to the drawee bank and the presenting bank, which would take redress measures.
For cheques above 50k
- The banks are advised to enable it for all account-holders issuing cheques for amounts of ₹50,000 and above.
- While availing of this facility is at the discretion of the account-holder, banks may consider making it mandatory in case of cheques for amounts of ₹5 lakh and above, the RBI had said.
Benefits of the system
- Under the Positive Pay system, the drawee bank is already aware of the issuer the details of the high-value cheque (above ₹50,000) he has issued.
- Without this intimation, if a cheque gets presented, then the drawee bank can reject payment and examine the case. Positive Pay is going to benefit both the issuer and the beneficiary.
- For the issuer, the benefit from this concept is that there cannot be fraudulent cheques encashed out of issuer’s account.
- For the beneficiary, the benefit is that the cheques handed out to him will mostly get honoured.
Is Positive Pay the same as ‘certified cheque’?
- The concept of ‘certified cheque’ was there long back — about 30 years back, long before technology swept across the Indian banking landscape.
- Whenever anybody issued a cheque, banks used to certify that money is there in their customer’s bank account and, therefore, the cheque will get honoured.
- This provided comfort to a beneficiary that cheque payment will get honoured and therefore did not insist on a pay order or demand draft.
- Drawee banks used to earmark the amount in the account of the issuer and then certify the cheque.
- This was adopted in an era when the cheque instrument used to travel physically for clearing.
Why need such a system?
- The RBI says the Positive Pay system is to augment customer safety in cheque payments and reduce instances of fraud occurring on account of tampering of cheque leaves.
- Banks had recently witnessed a rise in frauds involving high-value cheques.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Visva-Bharati University
Mains level: Nationalist education during freedom struggle
The Visva-Bharati University established by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore has completed its centenary.
Do you remember the scheme of education by Gandhi Ji, called Nai Talim?
Visva-Bharati University
- The university was set up by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921 at Santiniketan, Bolpur in West Bengal’s Birbhum district.
- It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
- Until independence, it was a college. Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.
Its establishment
- The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, the zamindar of Kirnahar.
- He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
- The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
- It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
- In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
What makes it special?
- Rabindranath Tagore believed in open-air education and had reservations about any teaching done within four walls.
- This was due to his belief that walls represent the conditioning of the mind.
- Tagore did not have a good opinion about the Western method of education introduced by the British in India; on this subject, Tagore and Gandhiji’s opinion matched.
- So he devised a new system of learning in Visva-Bharati. He allowed students to continue their course till the student and his teacher both are satisfied.
- At Visva-Bharati, if a course demanded by a student is not available, then the university will design a course and bring teachers for that course.
- The university would not be bothered by the consideration of whether there is a demand for the course.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Fastag
Mains level: RFID technology
From January 1, all lanes of National Highways will accept only electronic payments through FASTag.
Fastags work on a unique technology called RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). This has gone unnoticed in several competitive exams. Hence it is still relevant for the aspirants.
Also read
Fastags
- As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, since 1st December 2017, the FASTag had been made mandatory for all registered new four-wheelers and is being supplied by the Vehicle Manufacturer or their dealers.
- It has been mandated that the renewal of fitness certificate will be done only after the fitment of FASTag.
- For National Permit Vehicles, the fitment of FASTag was mandated since 1st October 2019.
What is ‘FASTag’?
- FASTags are stickers that are affixed to the windscreen of vehicles and use Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to enable digital, contactless payment of tolls without having to stop at toll gates.
- The tags are linked to bank accounts and other payment methods.
- As a car crosses a toll plaza, the amount is automatically deducted, and a notification is sent to the registered mobile phone number.
How does it work?
- The device employs Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for payments directly from the prepaid or savings account linked to it.
- It is affixed on the windscreen, so the vehicle can drive through plazas without stopping.
- RFID technology is similar to that used in transport access-control systems, like Metro smart card.
- If the tag is linked to a prepaid account like a wallet or a debit/credit card, then owners need to recharge/top up the tag.
- If it is linked to a savings account, then money will get deducted automatically after the balance goes below a pre-defined threshold.
- Once a vehicle crosses the toll, the owner will get an SMS alert on the deduction. In that, it is like a prepaid e-wallet.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tso Kar Wetland Complex
Mains level: Ramsar wetlands in India
India has added Tso Kar Wetland Complex in Ladakh as its 42nd Ramsar site, which is a second one in the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh. With this, India now has forty-two Ramsar sites.
Try this PYQ:
In which one among the following categories of protected areas in India are local people not allowed to collect and use the biomass?
(a) Biosphere reserves
(b) National parks
(c) Wetlands declared under Ramsar convention
(d) Wildlife sanctuaries
Tso Kar Wetland Complex
- It is a high-altitude wetland complex, consisting of two principal waterbodies, Startsapuk Tso, a freshwater lake of about 438 hectares to the south, and Tso Kar itself, a hypersaline lake of 1800 hectares to the north.
- It is situated in the Changthang region of Ladakh.
- It is called Tso Kar, meaning white lake, because of the white salt efflorescence found on the margins due to the evaporation of highly saline water.
Ecological significance
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
- They are, in fact, a major source of water and our main supply of freshwater comes from an array of wetlands which help soak rainfall and recharge groundwater.
- The Tso Kar Basin is an A1 Category Important Bird Area (IBA) as per BirdLife International and a key staging site in the Central Asian Flyway.
- The site is also one of the most important breeding areas of the Black-necked Crane (Grus nigricollis) in India.
Back2Basics: Wetlands
- A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded by water, either permanently or seasonally, where oxygen-free processes prevail.
- The primary factor that distinguishes wetlands from other landforms or water bodies is the characteristic vegetation of aquatic plants, adapted to the unique hydric soil.
- Wetlands provide a wide range of important resources and ecosystem services such as food, water, fibre, groundwater recharge, water purification, flood moderation, erosion control and climate regulation.
What is the Ramsar Convention?
- The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is a treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of such sites.
- The convention, signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, is one of the oldest inter-governmental accords for preserving the ecological character of wetlands.
- Also known as the Convention on Wetlands, it aims to develop a global network of wetlands for the conservation of biological diversity and for sustaining human life.
- Over 170 countries are party to the Ramsar Convention and over 2,000 designated sites covering over 20 crore hectares have been recognised under it.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Caspian Sea
Mains level: Ecocides and their impact
The Caspian is actually a lake, the largest in the world and it is experiencing a devastating decline in its water level that is about to accelerate.
Note the countries bordering the Caspian Sea: Kazakhstan, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkmenistan. Or else remember the acronym ‘TARIK(h)’ (Hindi word for date).
You can frame a mnemonic statement of your choice. Do similarly for major lakes and inland seas. But dont let it move over TARIK pe TARIK!
Caspian Sea
- The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest inland body of water, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea.
- As an endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia.
- An endorheic basin is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but converges instead into lakes or swamps, permanent or seasonal that equilibrates through evaporation
- Its level is the product of how much water is flowing in from rivers, mostly the mighty Volga to the north, how much it rains and how much evaporates away.
- At the end of the century, the Volga and other northern rivers will still be there.
- However, a projected temperature rise of about 3℃ to 4℃ in the region will drive evaporation through the roof.
Now try this PYQ:
Q.Which of the following has/have shrunk immensely/ dried up in the recent past due to human activities?
- Aral Sea
- Black Sea
- Lake Baikal
Select the correct option using the code given below:
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 2 only
(d) 1 and 3 only
Why in news?
- By the end of the century, the Caspian Sea will be nine metres to 18 metres lower. That’s a depth considerably taller than most houses.
- The Caspian’s surface is already dropping by 7 cm every year, a trend likely to increase.
- It means the lake will lose at least 25 per cent of its former size, uncovering 93,000 sq km of dry land.
- If that new land were a country, it would be the size of Portugal.
Past strides in its level
- The Caspian Sea has a history of violent rises and falls.
- In Derbent, on the Caucasus coast of Russia, submerged ancient city walls testify to how low the sea was in medieval times.
- Around 10,000 years ago, the Caspian was about 100 metres lower.
- A few thousand years before that it was about 50 metres higher than today and even over spilt into the Black Sea.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Essential Commodities Act
Mains level: Paper 2- Importance of parliamentary procedure in the passage of laws
A key lesson from the farmers’ opposition to the farm laws is that following the parliamentary procedure in the passage of legislation always pays dividend more so if the changes introduced by the legislation bring substantial changes.
Vested interests resulting in opposition to legislation
- There are strong indications that the new legislation is desirable and will bring in much-needed market reforms in the overregulated farm sector.
- There is no contrary evidence that the new proposals will adversely affect farmers in the long run.
- There is no justification for a minimum support price regardless of demand and supply.
- Legislation that benefits the nation but hurts vested interests will always meet with vehement opposition.
How liberalisation helps: Lessons from non-agricultural sector
- The benefits of liberalising the non-agricultural sector of the economy in 1991 established that market forces cannot be ignored.
- For the first 30 years, under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, several control orders were passed.
- Orders under ECA were passed on products such as cement and steel, and these were intended to ensure their availability at fair prices.
- The result was just the opposite: Severe shortages, a huge black market and massive corruption.
- Equally disastrous were laws relating to monopolies and industrial development.
Importance of parliamentary procedures
- At the heart of a constitutional democracy based on the Westminster model is the importance of Parliament, which is the fountainhead of all laws.
- But, Parliament includes the Opposition as well and even though a bill may be certain to become the law, it is necessary that the established procedure is followed.
- In the face of opposition to the farm laws, it is necessary that the benefits of a new law are demonstrated through debate and discussion.
- There must be empirical or other evidence that shows the deleterious economic consequences of continuing with the status quo.
- As the farm bills marked a radical departure from the existing system of selling agricultural produce, the least that could have been done was to refer them to a Select Committee.
- It is a matter of concern that fewer and fewer bills are being referred to Select Committees or even deliberated upon.
- While 71 per cent of the bills were referred to a Select Committee in the 15th Lok Sabha (2009-14), only 25 per cent were so referred in the 16th Lok Sabha (2014-19).
Way forward
- A new law can always come into force at a later date and can even be made applicable piecemeal.
- It is also possible to notify it to apply to select states or districts.
- If laws are likely to meet with opposition by vested interests, the best way to demonstrate their beneficial effects is to implement the laws in select states or districts for a year.
- It is worthwhile considering the implementation of a controversial law on a trial basis.
Consider the question “Describe the important role played by the Select Committee in the passage of the bill. Why the decline in the number of bills referred to the Select Committees is the matter of concern?”
Conclusion
The biggest lesson for the goverment is that following constitutional conventions always pays dividends — it benefits the nation and preserves the dignity of Parliament.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Labour codes
Mains level: Paper 2- Challenges of contractual labour despite the provision of fixed-term employment
The recent incident of violence at the iPhone manufacturing factory brought into focus the issue of contract labour. The article explains the reasons for its persistence despite the provision of fixed-term employment.
Difference between a contract worker and fixed-term worker
- Contract workers, who are hired via an intermediary (contractor) and are not on the payrolls of the company on whose shop floors they work.
- Fixed-term employees can be directly hired by employers without mediation by a middleman.
- They are ensured of the same work hours, wages, allowances, and statutory benefits that permanent workers in the establishment are entitled to.
- Employers are not required to provide retrenchment benefits to fixed-term employees.
- With an aim to discourage the use of contract workers the government introduced the option of fixed-term employment in the Code on Industrial Relations (2020).
Issues with the provision of fixed-term employment
- Fixed-term employment in India is indeed quite open-ended.
- The Code does not specify a minimum or maximum tenure for hiring fixed-term employees.
- Nor does it specify the number of times the contract can be renewed.
- The absence of such safeguards can lead to an erosion of permanent jobs.
- Workers may find themselves moving from one fixed-term contract to another, without any assurance of being absorbed as permanent workers by their employer.
So, why firms still hire contract workers?
- The cost of hiring contract workers continues to remain lower than the cost of hiring fixed-term employees. who are required to be paid pro-rata wages and social security including gratuity.
- In addition, the monitoring, legal compliance, and litigation costs are shifted onto the contractor in case of contract workers, thereby reducing the transaction costs of recruitment to firms.
- To encourage a shift away from contract workers to fixed-term employees, the government should have completely prohibited the use of contract labor in core activities
- Instead of completely prohibiting contract workers in core activities the Labour Code on Occupational Safety and Health has allowed it under certain conditions.
- Such a provision encourages the use of contract workers, undermining the initiative of introducing fixed-term employment.
Using PLI and Atmanirbhar Bharat to boost formal job creation
- The production linked incentive scheme (PLI) offers government subsidies for a limited period which is five years for mobile handsets.
- The objective of the PLI scheme is to create “good jobs”.
- It may have been more useful to link these incentives for which a financial outlay of Rs 1.45 lakh crore has been approved over five years for 10 sectors explicitly to job creation.
- Significantly, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana, the government is offering provident fund subsidies to employers for hiring new formal workers.
- Both these programs could jointly be leveraged to give a big boost to formal job creation in the manufacturing sector.
Consider the question “Examine the reasons for the persistence of contractual labour despite the option of fixed-term employment. Also suggest the ways to increase the employment opportunities that are secure.”
Conclusion
The government should focus on the creation of employment opportunities that are secure through policies and laws.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Debate over Jallikattu
The Tamil Nadu government has permitted Jallikattu to be held across the state during the upcoming Pongal season.
51A (g) of the Constitution of India mandates every citizen to protect forests, lakes, rivers, wild animals etc. Apart from that, the Constitution also reminds us to show compassion towards birds and animals.
What is Jallikattu?
- It is a bull-taming sport and a disputed traditional event in which a bull such is released into a crowd of people.
- Multiple human participants attempt to grab the large hump on the bull’s back with both arms and hang on to it while the bull attempts to escape.
- Participants hold the hump for as long as possible, attempting to bring the bull to a stop. In some cases, participants must ride long enough to remove flags on the bull’s horns.
- It is typically practised in the state of Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal (harvest) celebrations in January.
A historic sport
- Jallikattu has been known to be practised during the Tamil classical period (400-100 BCE).
- It was common among the Ayar people who lived in the ‘Mullai (pastoral)’ division of the ancient Tamil country.
- Later, it became a platform for the display of bravery, and prize money was introduced for participation encouragement.
- A seal from the Indus Valley Civilization depicting the practise is preserved in the National Museum, New Delhi.
Why it is disputed?
- As there were incidents of injury and death associated with the sport, both to the participants and to the animals forced into it, animal rights organizations have called for a ban to the sport.
- This has resulted in the court banning it several times over the past years.
- However, with protest from the people against the ban, a new ordinance was made in 2017 to continue the sport.
Various concerns
- The event has caused several human deaths and injuries and there are several instances of fatalities to the bulls.
- Animal welfare concerns are related to the handling of the bulls before they are released and also during the competitor’s attempts to subdue the bull.
- Practices, before the bull is released, include prodding the bull with sharp sticks or scythes, extreme bending of the tail which can fracture the vertebrae, and biting of the bull’s tail.
- There are also reports of the bulls being forced to drink alcohol to disorient them, or chilli peppers being rubbed in their eyes to aggravate the bull.
- During attempts to subdue the bull, they are stabbed by various implements such as knives or sticks, punched, jumped on and dragged to the ground.
Why activists seek a ban over it?
- Animal rights activists argue that Jallikattu exploits the bull’s natural nervousness as prey animals by deliberately placing them in a terrifying situation.
- They are forced to run away from the competitors whom they perceive as predators and the practice effectively involves catching a terrified animal.
- Along with human injuries and fatalities, bulls themselves sometimes sustain injuries or die, which people may interpret as a bad omen for the village.
- An investigation by the Animal Welfare Board of India concluded that “Jallikattu is inherently cruel to animals”.
Arguments in favour of the sport
- According to its protagonists, it is not a leisure sport available but a way to promote and preserve the native livestock.
- Some believe that the sport also symbolizes a cordial man-animal relationship.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: GCM, Cancun COP
Mains level: 1.5 C debate
The planet will breach the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels between 2027 and 2042 according to new research.
Ever wondered why is there so much of hue to halt the temperature rise at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, and why not 2°C? Read this newscard to get aware….
What does that mean?
- The world will heat up more than it can take much earlier than anticipated.
- The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had estimated that breach to occur between now and 2052.
- But researchers have now claimed to have introduced a more precise way to project the Earth’s temperature based on historical climate data.
The fuss over 1.5°C threshold
- For decades, researchers argued the global temperature rise must be kept below 2C by the end of this century to avoid the worst impacts.
- The idea of two degrees as the safe threshold for warming evolved over a number of years from the first recorded mention by economist William Nordhaus in 1975.
- By the mid-1990s, European ministers were signing up to the two-degree limit, and by 2010 Cancun COP it was official UN policy.
- However, small island states and low-lying countries were very unhappy with this perspective, because they believed it meant their territories would be inundated with sea-level rise.
- They commissioned research which showed that preventing temperatures from rising beyond 1.5C would give them a fighting chance.
Why 1.5°C is preferred over 2°C?
- Global warming is already impacting people and ecosystems. The risks at 1.5°C and 2°C are progressively higher.
- There will be worse heatwaves, drought and flooding at 2°C compared to 1.5°C. It is characterized as “substantial differences in extremes”.
- Sea levels are expected to rise 10cm higher this century under 2°C of warming than 1.5°C.
- The collapse of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica could lead to rises of several metres.
- The quantity and quality of staple crops suffer under 2°C warming compared to 1.5C, as do livestock. That is bad for the availability of food in many parts of the world.
New model shows the breach in threshold
- The study according to which prediction model deployed reduced uncertainties by half compared to the approach used by the IPCC.
- The IPCC uses the General Circulation Models (GCM) to express wide ranges in overall temperature projections.
- This makes it difficult to circle outcomes in different climate mitigation scenarios.
What is the General Circulation Model (GCM)?
- GCM represents physical processes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and land surface.
- It is the most advanced tool currently available for simulating the response of the global climate system to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations.
- GCMs depict the climate using a three-dimensional grid over the globe, typically having a horizontal resolution of between 250 and 600 km.
- Many physical processes, such as those related to clouds, also occur at smaller scales and cannot be properly modelled.
Why GCM is tricky?
- Climate models are mathematical simulations of different factors that interact to affect Earth’s climate, such as the atmosphere, ocean, ice, land surface and the sun.
- The data is tricky, and predictions can more often than not be inaccurate.
- For example, an IPCC model would predict a temperature increase of a massive range — between 1.9oC and 4.5oC — if carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is doubled.
Back2Basics: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- The IPCC is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations that is dedicated to providing the world with an objective, scientific information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of the risk of human-induced climate change.
- It was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
- Its membership is open to all members of the WMO and UN.
- The IPCC produces reports that contribute to the work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the main international treaty on climate change.
- The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report was a critical scientific input into the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement in 2015.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Farmers’ Day
Mains level: Not Much
National Farmers’ Day, or Kisan Diwas, is celebrated across the country on December 23 to honour India’s farmers.
Do you think that the extraordinary haste with which the farm bills were pushed through both the Houses has created the present crisis?
National Farmers’ Day
- It marks the birth anniversary of the nation’s fifth PM Choudhary Charan Singh.
- In 2001, the government decided to recognise Choudhary Charan Singh’s contribution to the agriculture sector and welfare of farmers by celebrating his birth anniversary as Kisan Diwas.
- Since then, December 23 has been observed as National Farmers’ Day.
- Generally, awareness campaigns and drives are organised across the country to educate people on the role of farmers and their contribution to the economy.
Who was CCS and what was his connection with farmers?
- Chaudhary Charan Singh, who briefly served as PM between 1979 and 1980, is widely regarded as one of the country’s most famous peasant leaders.
- He was known for his pioneering work to promote the welfare of farmers and the agricultural sector.
- Charan Singh was no stranger to the struggles faced by the Indian farmer. He was born into a middle-class peasant family in Uttar Pradesh on December 23, 1902.
- Greatly influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, he took an active part in the fight for independence.
- After that, his political career largely focused on socialism in rural India.
Major legislations
- He was behind several major farmer-forward Bills, including the Land Utilization Bill of 1939 and the Debt Redemption Bill in 1939.
- While serving as agriculture minister in 1952, he led UP in its efforts to abolish the Zamindari system.
- In fact, he went on to draft the UP Zamindari and Land Reforms Bill himself.
- On 23 December 1978, he founded the Kisan Trust — a non-political, non-profit making body — with the aim of educating India’s rural masses against injustice, and fostering solidarity among them.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Welfare schemes for various vulnerable sections of population
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved changes to the post-matric scholarship scheme for students from the Scheduled Castes (SCs), including a new funding pattern of 60-40 for the Centre and States.
Note:
Equality enshrined in the Constitution is not mathematical equality and does not mean all citizens will be treated alike without any distinction.
To this effect, the Constitution underlines two distinct aspects which together form the essence of equality law:
1) Non-discrimination among equals, and
2) Affirmative action to equalize the unequal
About the Scholarship
- It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and implemented through State Government and UT administration.
- Under the scheme, the government provides financial assistance to students from SCs for higher education at post-matriculation and post-senior-secondary stages, which means Class XI onwards.
- It can be availed by those, whose household incomes are less than Rs 2.5 lakh annually.
What are the new changes?
- States would carry out verification of the students’ eligibility and caste status and collect their Aadhaar and bank account details.
- Transfer of financial assistance to the students under the scheme shall be on DBT [direct benefit transfer] mode, and preferably using the Aadhaar Enabled Payment System.
- Starting from 2021-22, the Central share [60%] in the scheme would be released on DBT mode directly into the bank accounts of the students as per a fixed time schedule.
Why such changes now?
- The changes were aimed at enabling four crore students to access higher education over the next five years.
- Switching from the existing “committed liability” formula, the new funding pattern would increase the Centre’s involvement in the scheme.
Benefits of the scheme
- The changes approved by the Cabinet were aimed at enrolling the poorest students, ensuring timely payments, and maintaining accountability.
- An estimated 1.36 crore students who would otherwise drop out after Class 10 would be brought into the higher education system under the scheme in five years.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: National Food Security Act
Mains level: Paper 3- Problem of food subsidy and excess grain stocks
The article highlights the challenge of managing the procurement of wheat and rice at MSP by the FCI and maintaining its financial health.
The problem of surplus in wheat and rice procurement
- While MSP is declared for 23 crops, the biggest financial burden comes from wheat and rice.
- Procurement has increased significantly with states like MP, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha stepping up their efforts.
- Overall procurement of rice and wheat has gone up to 52 million tonnes and 39 million tonnes, respectively.
- The requirement of PDS and welfare schemes is about 60 million tonnes.
- This leaves a surplus of about 30 million tonnes, in addition to the carry-over stock of about 42 million tonnes (current)—far above the buffer and strategic reserve norms.
Cost of the surplus and its significance
- The subsidy burden for rice and wheat (2020-21) is estimated to be Rs 1.8 lakh crore.
- FCI procures wheat and rice at MSP (some states do so under the decentralised procurement & distribution scheme).
- They incur costs like market fees, labour charges, packing costs, transport, storage charges, etc.
- These are of the order of 9% for procurement, 9-11% for labour and transport, and 15-17% for distribution.
- The sale price is fixed at Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg for wheat and rice, respectively, under the National Food Security Act.
- In addition, there are releases under LEAN (lower entitlements and higher costs compared to NFSA cards, but subsidised nonetheless) and Open Market Sales (OMSS).
- Cost of holding the buffer for a year is about Rs 5,500 per tonne.
- FCI is holding 39 million tonnes of rice and 55 million tonnes of wheat (July 2020) against the buffer/strategic reserve norm of 13.5 million tonnes of rice and 27.6 million tonnes of wheat, i.e., a surplus of 52 million tonnes.
- The cost of holding this stock works out to Rs 29,000 crore per year.
Financial burden on FCI
- The finance ministry has not been able to allocate adequate funds to meet the full requirement of food subsidy.
- Under-provisioning on this account has been going on, and FCI was being given loans at 8% interest from the National Savings Scheme Fund (NSSF) since 2016-17.
- The outstanding loan on this account (October 31, 2020) is Rs 2,93,000 crore.
- This has meant FCI getting zero budgetary support against current subsidy claims since 2017, thereby, postponing the problem year after year.
- The subsidy burden is rising (with MSP increasing every year, quantities going up and prices under PDS fixed), and is likely to cross Rs 2 lakh crore.
Conclusion
Government need to bring in the reforms in the PDS and MSP regime to stop both the systems from collapsing under their own weights.
Source:-
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/union-budget-2021-22-the-burgeoning-food-subsidy-bill-will-be-a-key-budget-worry/2155584/
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Targets under the Paris Agreement
Mains level: Paper 3- 5 years of Paris Agreement and actions of EU and India
This article by the Ambassador of the European Union underscores the need for implementation and action on the commitments made in the Paris Agreement to deal with climate change.
EU’s commitment to implement Paris Agreement
- In December 2019, the European Commission launched the European Green Deal — roadmap to achieve climate neutrality in the EU by 2050.
- “Next Generation EU” recovery package and our next long-term budget earmark more than half a trillion euros to address climate change.
- Recently EU leaders unanimously agreed on the 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels.
Impact on low carbon technologies
- These actions and commitments of the EU towards Paris Agreement will further bring down the costs of low carbon technologies.
- The cost of solar photovoltaics has already declined by 82% between 2010 and 2019.
- Achieving the 55% target will even help us to save €100 billion in the next decade and up to €3 trillion by 2050.
EU working with India on climate actions
- No government can tackle climate change alone.
- India is a key player in this global endeavour.
- The rapid development of solar and wind energy in India in the last few years is a good example of the action needed worldwide.
- India has taken a number of very significant flagship initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Leadership Group for Industry Transition.
- India and Team Europe are engaged to make a success of the forthcoming international gatherings: COP 26 in Glasgow on climate change and COP 15 in Kunming on biodiversity.
Way forward
- The international community should come forward with clear strategies for net-zero emissions and to enhance the global level of ambition for 2030.
- Our global, regional, national, local and individual recovery plans are an opportunity to ‘build back better’.
- We will also need to foster small individual actions to attain a big collective impact.
Conclusion
With climate neutrality as our goal, the world should mobilise its best scientists, business people, policymakers, academics, civil society actors and citizens to protect together something we all share beyond borders and species: our planet.
Get an IAS/IPS ranker as your 1: 1 personal mentor for UPSC 2024
Attend Now