A Parliamentary panel has asked the government to clarify how many of the 66 proposals received under the Affordable Rental Housing Scheme launched for the urban poor, especially migrant workers, during the COVID-19 pandemic have been approved by their respective local urban bodies.
Affordable Rental Housing Scheme
AHRC is a sub-scheme under PM Awas Yojana – Urban.
Under the scheme, existing vacant government-funded housing complexes will be converted in ARHCs through Concession Agreements for 25 years.
The concessionaire will make the complexes livable by repair/retrofit and maintenance of rooms and filling up infrastructure gaps like water, sewer/ septage, sanitation, road etc.
States/UTs will select concessionaire through transparent bidding.
Complexes will revert to ULB after 25 years to restart next cycle like earlier or run on their own.
Beneficiaries of the scheme
A large part of the workforce in manufacturing industries, service providers in hospitality, health, domestic/commercial establishments, and construction or other sectors, labourers, students etc. who come from rural areas or small towns seeking better opportunities will be the target beneficiary under ARHCs.
Benefits of AHRCs
Usually, these migrants live in slums, informal/ unauthorized colonies or peri-urban areas to save rental charges.
They spend a lot of time on roads by walking/ cycling to workplaces, risking their lives to cut on the expenses.
ARHCs will create a new ecosystem in urban areas making housing available at affordable rent close to the place of work.
Investment under ARHCs is expected to create new job opportunities.
ARHCs will cut down unnecessary travel, congestion and pollution.
Back2Basics: Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)
PMAY-Urban
The PMAY- Urban Programme launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), in Mission mode envisions provision of Housing for All by 2022. The Mission seeks to address the housing requirement of urban poor including slum dwellers through following programme verticals:
Slum rehabilitation of Slum Dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource
Promotion of Affordable Housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy
Affordable Housing in Partnership with Public & Private sectors
Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction /enhancement.
PMAY-Rural
In pursuance to the goal – Housing for all by 2022, the rural housing scheme Indira Awas Yojana has been revamped to Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin and approved during March 2016.
Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided for construction of a pucca house to all houseless and households living in dilapidated houses.
It is proposed that one crore households would be provided assistance for construction of pucca house under the project during the period from 2016-17 to 2018-19.
The scheme would be implemented in rural areas throughout India except for Delhi and Chandigarh. The cost of houses would be shared between the Centre and States.
India leveraged information and communications technologies (ICTs) during the pandemic. Digital health solutions played a crucial role in bridging the gap in healthcare delivery as systems moved online to accommodate contactless care.
India’s spectacular demonstration of digital public good (DPG) so far
Aadhar and UPI are like the building blocks of DPG: India has demonstrated its digital prowess by building digital public goods the digital identity system Aadhaar, the DPGs built on top of Aadhaar and the Unified Payments Interface.
Aadhar for PDS and UPI for payments: While Aadhaar has become central to India’s public service delivery architecture, UPI has transformed how payments are made.
One of the largest internet users: Our digital public infrastructure has reached the last mile, enabled by 1.2 billion wireless connections and 800 million internet users.
Some examples of DPGs developed during the pandemic: For instance, the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) and the Aarogya Setu application. CoWIN propelled India to adopt a completely digital approach to its vaccination strategy. Aarogya Setu provided real-time data on active cases and containment zones to help citizens assess risk in their areas.
Increasing use of Telemedicine platforms: Telemedicine platforms saw a steep increase in user acquisitions, as 85 per cent of physicians used teleconsultations during the pandemic, underscoring the need to better incorporate cutting-edge digital technologies into healthcare services.
Acknowledging the current need?
Although the impact of the pandemic on health services put the spotlight on the benefits of digital innovation and technology-enabled solutions, private entities, health technology players, and the public sector have been driving digitisation in the sector for some time now.
It has become clear that a comprehensive digital healthcare ecosystem is necessary to bring together existing siloed efforts and move toward proactive, holistic, and citizen-centric healthcare.
Government efforts in this direction?
Shared public goods for healthcare: Recognising this need, the government has created shared public goods for healthcare and developed a framework for a nationwide digital health system. This brought healthcare to a turning point in India.
Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM): The PM launched the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission on September 27, 2021, under the aegis of the National Health Authority. Within a year of its launch, ABDM has established a robust framework to provide accessible, affordable, and equitable healthcare through digital highways. The ABDM has implemented vital building blocks to unite all stakeholders in the digital healthcare ecosystem.
The Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA): ABHA creates a standard identifier for patients across healthcare providers. With the ABHA and its associated Personal Health Record (PHR) app, citizens can link, store, and share their health records to access healthcare services with autonomy and consent. With more than 300 million ABHAs and 50 million health records linked, the mission is growing at a massive rate.
The Health Facility Registry (HFR) and the Health Professional Registries (HPR) for central digital health information: HFR and HPR accounts provide verified digital identities to large and small public and private health facilities and professionals. This enables them to connect to a central digital ecosystem while serving as a single source for verified healthcare provider-related information. HFR and HPR improve the discovery of healthcare facilities and help health professionals build an online presence and offer services more effectively. The
Drug registry for centralised repository of approved drugs: It is a crucial building block designed to create a single, up-to-date, centralised repository of all approved drugs across all systems of medicine.
Unified Health Interface (UHI) enables a connect between healthcare providers with end users: It aims to strengthen the health sector by enabling all healthcare service providers and end-user applications to interact with each other on its network. This will provide a seamless experience for service discovery, appointment booking, teleconsultations, ambulance access, and more. The UHI is based on open network protocols and can address the current challenge of different digital solutions being unable to communicate with each other.
To give UHI the necessary push, the government is repurposing Aarogya Setu and CoWIN: Aarogya Setu is being transformed into a general health and wellness application. At the same time, CoWIN will be plugged with a lite Hospital Management Information System (HMIS) for small clinics, to bring digitisation to the masses.
Addressing well the patient registration process at the hospital counters: Another use-case of ABDM is scan and share, which uses a QR code-based token system to manage queues at hospital counters. It uses the foundational elements of ABHA and PHR to streamline the outpatient registration process in large hospitals
Expanding healthcare digital initiative worldwide: The government is also planning to expand its digital initiatives in the healthcare sector with Heal by India, making India’s healthcare professionals’ services available worldwide.
Platform for organ donation: Additionally, a platform is being developed to automate the allocation of deceased organ and tissue donations, making the process faster and more transparent.
Way ahead
Digitise insurance claim settlement process: With the implementation of digital solutions, the next step is to digitise and automate the insurance claim settlement process through the Health Claim Exchange platform.
Making claim settlement process inexpensive and transparent: There is need to make claim-related information verifiable, auditable, traceable and interoperable among various entities, enabling claim processing to become inexpensive, transparent and carried out in real time.
Bringing together global efforts for digital health: India assumes the G20 presidency this year. The G20 Global Initiative on Digital Health calls for the creation of an institutional framework for a connected health ecosystem to bring together global efforts for digital health.
Accelerating UHC by scaling up the technologies: It also calls for the scaling-up of technologies such as global DPGs to accelerate Universal Health Coverage.
Conclusion
The ABDM has proven to be a valuable asset and its adoption across states has been accelerated by the National Health Authority. It aims to build the foundation for a sustainable digital public infrastructure for health, enabling India to achieve universal health coverage. The mission embodies G20’s theme of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” or “One Earth. One Family. One Future”
Mains question
Q. India has demonstrated spectacular success in digital public goods, specifically in Digital health. Discuss how the government efforts are taking shape in this direction and suggest a way ahead in short.
A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously and rightly ruled out any additional curbs on free speech by ministers. It said, like other citizens, they are guaranteed the right to freedom of expression under Article 19(1) (a), governed by the reasonable restrictions laid out in Article 19(2) and those are enough.
What is the issue of freedom of speech to Ministers?
Scope: Ministers and lawmakers enjoy the freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1) of the Constitution as other citizens and additional restrictions cannot be imposed to curb their right to free speech.
Restrictions: A five-judge Constitution bench held that curbs on free speech cannot extend beyond what is prescribed under Article 19(2) of the Constitution imposes reasonable restrictions and applies equally on all citizens.
Rights are not residual privileges: Court said that the role of the court is to protect fundamental rights limited by lawful restrictions and not to protect restrictions and make the rights residual privileges.
Distinction on government’s responsibility and remarks by individual minister: The ruling also made a valid distinction on the government’s vicarious responsibility for ill-judged or hateful remarks made by its individual ministers, the flow of stream in collective responsibility is from the Council of Ministers to the individual ministers. The flow is not on the reverse, namely from the individual ministers to the Council of Ministers.
Clarification on the concept of collective responsibility: It is not possible to extend the concept of collective responsibility, it said, to “any and every statement orally made by a Minister outside the House of the People/Legislative Assembly”.
Public functionaries should be more responsible while they speak: Even while agreeing with the majority ruling, however, it is possible to underline the concern articulated in the minority judgment over a hateful public discourse “hate speech, whatever its content may be, denies human beings the right to dignity”. And to agree with it when it speaks of the special duty of public functionaries and other persons of influence to be more responsible and restrained in their speech, to “understand and measure their words”.
What is ‘Hate Speech’?
There is no specific legal definition of ‘hate speech’.
The Law Commission of India, in its 267th Report, says: “Hate speech generally is an incitement to hatred primarily against a group of persons defined in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief and the like.
Thus, hate speech is any word written or spoken, signs, visible representations within the hearing or sight of a person with the intention to cause fear or alarm, or incitement to violence.
In general, hate speech is considered a limitation on free speech that seeks to prevent or bar speech that exposes a person or a group or section of society to hate, violence, ridicule or indignity
Brief Analysis: Hate speech by Ministers
Problem is real but primarily political: The problem of hate speech by ministers and others belonging to the party in power is real, but it is primarily political.
Solution is not in new law as, there are enough provisions to deal with it: The solution is not for the court to draw a new line, or even, as the minority judgment proposed, for Parliament to make another law. There are enough provisions in the statute book to deal with speech that promotes enmity and violence or results in cramping the freedoms of others.
Legal provisions can be weaponised so what is needed is a political resolve: What is missing is the political resolve and will of governments to act on instances of hate speech, especially when they involve one of their own, and there are no legal shortcuts to make up for that absence. In fact, the same legal provisions that are designed to curb hate speech can be twisted and turned and weaponised by governments against citizens who dissent and disagree.
Conclusion
The problem of hate speech by ministers and others associated with the party in power is real, but it is primarily political. The solution lies not in making new laws, but in individual responsibility and collective political resolve.
Mains question
Q. How do you understand hate speech? Do ministers and MLAs have freedom of speech? Discuss the recent court ruling on free speech restrictions on ministers.
2022 had an unusual blue-ribbon winner for emerging digital artists; Jason Allen’s winning work Théâtre D’opéra Spatial was created with an AI Generative model called Midjourney.
Midjourney is an AI based art generator that has been created to explore new mediums of thought.
It is an interactive bot, which uses machine learning (ML) to create images based on texts. This AI system utilises the concepts and tries to convert them into visual reality.
It is quite similar to other technologies such as DALL-E 2.
The journey of AI generative models so far
Midjourney generator: Midjourney is one of the rash of AI-generated Transformer or Generative or Large Language Models (LLMs) which have exploded onto our world in the last few years.
Earlier models: Models like BERT and Megatron (2019) were relatively small models, with up to 174 GB of dataset size, and passed under the collective public radar.
Composition skills of GPT3: GPT3, released by OpenAI with a 570 GB dataset and 175bn parameters was the first one to capture the public consciousness with some amazing writing and composition skills.
Models that creat images or videos based on texts: The real magic, however, started with Transformers which could create beautiful and realistic pieces of art with just a text prompt OpenAI’s DALL-E2, Google’s Imagen, the open-source Stable Diffusion and, obviously, Midjourney. Not to be left behind, Meta unleashed a transformer which could create videos from text prompts.
ChatGPT, a latest and more evolved, like real communication: Recently in late 2022 came the transformer to rule them all ChatGPT built on GPT3, but with capabilities to have real conversations with human beings.
Are these models ethical?
Ethics is too complex a subject to address in one short article. There are three big ethical questions on these models that humanity will have to address in short order.
Environmental: Most of the bad rap goes to crypto and blockchain, but the cloud and these AI models running on it take enormous amounts of energy. Training a large transformer model just once would have CO2 emissions equivalent to 125 roundtrips from New York to Beijing. This cloud is the hundreds of data centres that dot our planet, and they guzzle water and power at alarming rates.
Bias; as it do not understand meaning and its implications: The other thorny ethical issue is that sheer size does not guarantee diversity. Timnit Gebru was with Google when she co-wrote a seminal research paper calling these LLMs ‘stochastic parrots’, because, like parrots, they just repeated a senseless litany of words without understanding their meaning and implications.
Plagiarism, question of who owns the original content: The third prickly ethical issue, which also prompted the artist backlash to Allen’s award-winning work is that of plagiarism. If Stable Diffusion or DALL-E 2 did all the work of scouring the web and combining multiple images (a Pablo Picasso Mona Lisa, for example), who owns it. Currently, OpenAI has ownership of all images created with DALL-E, and their business model is to allow paid users to have rights to reproduce, paint, sell and merchandise images they create. This is a legal minefield the US Copyrights office recently refused to grant a copyright to a piece created by a generative AI called Creativity Machine, but South Africa and Australia have recently announced that AI can be considered an inventor.
ChatGPT is a chatbot built on a large-scale transformer-based language model that is trained on a diverse dataset of text and is capable of generating human-like responses to prompts.
A conversation with ChatGPT is like talking to a computer, a smart one, which appears to have some semblance of human-like intelligence.
What are the other concerns?
Besides the legal quagmire, there is a bigger fear: This kind of cheap, mass-produced art could put artists, photographers, and graphic designers out of their jobs.
Machine does not have human like sense: A machine is not necessarily creating art, it is crunching and manipulating data and it has no idea or sense of what and why it is doing so.
As it is cheap, corporate might consider using it at a large scale: But it can do so cheaply, and at scale. Corporate customers might seriously consider it for their creative, advertising, and other needs.
Conclusion
Legal and political leaders across the world are sounding the alarm about the ethics of large generative models, and for good reason. As these models become increasingly powerful in the hands of Big Tech, with their unlimited budgets, brains and computing power, these issues of bias, environmental damage and plagiarism will become even more fraught. Such AI models should not be used to create chaos rather a harmonious existence.
Mains question
Q. Name some of the models of AI based art generators. Discuss the ethical concerns of such models.
Three core subjects Polity, Economics, and Environment carry a weight of almost 50% in the UPSC Prelims exam, both in terms of syllabus and the questions that are asked in the paper.
For a score of 120+ in Prelims, 2023 aspirants must target and focus on mastering the concepts and current affairs related to these subjects on a priority basis.
UPSC topper Prabhat sir will be taking up a webinar masterclass to help you cover and strategize these three core areas.
IRPS, Prabhat Singh will be taking up a masterclass
Post-webinar Civilsdaily strategy pack will be shared with you on email
Recording of the webinar can be requested by filling up the same registration form
Strategies & Approaches, in This Free Live Webinar by Prabhat Sir!
Strategy to cover 3 core subjects Polity, Economics, and Environment syllabus along with timetable and timelines. Balancing current affairs and static for these two will be discussed.
Best, minimum NCERT materials and standard books for 3 core subjects in UPSC-CSE Preparation.
Covering and connecting current affairs for the last 1.5 years with these core subjects.
Important topics and conceptsfor Polity and Environment – core of the core subjects
The subject of the Indian Economy covers India’s current and past economic aspects, which makes it an important topic. Knowing its fundamentals is crucial for UPSC exams. So, What is to be learned by heart & which NCERTs and standard books are fit for the economy will be comprehensively discussed.
The untold secret of ‘how & from where UPSC asks direct questions from NCERTs. How to build command over NCERTs is going to be another crucial point of this awesome session.
Indian agricultural sector, though having some major achievements, face a number of challenges that impacts its productivity severely.
In this context, this edition of the Burning Issue will analyze the agricultural sector of India, its challenges, and relevant solutions.
Indian Agriculture: A backgrounder
While agriculture’s share in India’s economy has progressively declined to less than 15% due to the high growth rates of the industrial and services sectors, the sector’s importance in India’s economic and social fabric goes well beyond this indicator as:
Population dependency: Nearly three-quarters of India’s families depend on rural incomes.
Rural sector: The majority of India’s poor (some 770 million people or about 70 percent) are found in rural areas.
Food Security: India’s food security depends on producing cereal crops, as well as increasing its production of fruits, vegetables and milk.
Major Achievements of the Indian Agriculture Sector
Record Production of Food grains: Indian agriculture witnessed a distinct step up in the growth of output following the green revolution in the 1960s driven by the intensive use of inputs and technological advancement, which was sustained during the seventies and eighties.
Diversification towards Horticulture Crops: Horticulture production has outpaced food grains production since 2012-13 and it currently accounts for around 35 per cent of the total value of crop output in the agriculture sector.
Growing Importance of Allied Activities: The allied sector has steadily gained importance in the last decade led by strong growth in animal husbandry and fish production. Indian livestock sector attained a record growth of 6.6 per cent during the last decade (2010-19) with India emerging as a major producer of milk, egg and meat in the world.
Changing Dynamics of Agriculture Trade: As India has emerged as a leading producer of various agricultural commodities in the world, its share in the global trade of agricultural and allied sector products has doubled from 1.1 per cent in 2000 to 2.2 per cent in 2018.
However, despite all these achievements, the Indian agriculture sector is going through multiple challenges as well.
Challenges to Indian Agriculture Sector
(A) Small and Fragmented Land Holdings:
Small and scattered land holdings apply to a small plot of land that is uneconomical.
An agricultural farm must have a certain amount of land in order to be cost-effective in terms of purchasing and utilizing inputs, as well as harvesting.
(B) Inferior Quality seeds
The seed is a vital and essential input for the crop’s yields and for maintaining agricultural production growth.
The delivery of high-quality seeds is just as important as its processing.
Unfortunately, good superiority seeds are out of reach for the majority of the farmers, marginal farmers and particularly small, due to exorbitant seed rates.
(C) Manures, Fertilizers and Biocides
For hundreds of years, Indian soil was used to produce crops with no regard for replenishment. As a result, soils have been depleted and exhausted, leading to low productivity.
Almost all of the crop has among the lowermost average yields in the world.
It is a critical concern that can be resolved by increasing the use of fertilizers and manures.
(D) Irrigation challenges
Despite the fact that India is the world’s 2nd largest moistened country after China, only one 3rd of the crop production is irrigated.
In a rainy climate country like India, where rainfall is unpredictable, unreliable, and erratic, irrigation is the most significant agricultural input.
India will not be able to make sustainable development in agriculture until and unless much than half of the collected area is irrigated.
(E) Lack of Mechanization
Despite the large scales mechanization of agriculture in few parts of the world, most agricultural operations are still carried out manually.
Irrigating, sowing, thinning, plowing and pruning, harvesting threshing, weeding, and transporting the crops all make little or no use of machines.
This is particularly true for small and marginal farmers. It leads to a significant waste of labor and human labor yields per capita.
(F) Weak Marketing
In rural India, agricultural marketing is still in poor shape. Farmers have to rely on local traders and middlemen to dispose of their farm products, which are sold at a loss because there are no reliable marketing facilities.
Trading companies and middlemen predominate in the advertising and trading of agricultural products in the absence of a formalized marketing framework. The middlemen’s compensation increases the consumer’s burden for their services, but the farmers do not gain anything comparable.
(G) Poor Storage Infrastructure
Storage facilities are either non-existent or woefully inadequate in rural locations. In such circumstances, the farmers are obligated to sell their food as soon as it is harvested at the going market rates, which are invariably low.
The farmers lose their rightful income as a result of these distressed sales. The Parse Committee calculated that 9.3% of post-harvest losses were attributable to poor storage conditions alone, accounting for approximately 6.6 per cent of those losses. Hence, it is crucial to use efficient storage to prevent losses and benefit both consumers and producers.
(H) Low Capital Infusion
Agriculture is a significant industry; much like other industries, it needs money to operate. With the development of agricultural technology, the importance of capital input is growing.
The agriculturalist must borrow money to increase the pace of agricultural output because his capital is tied up in his lands and stocks. Even now, the money lenders, traders, and commission agents that charge exorbitant interest rates and buy agricultural products at extremely low prices are the main funding sources for farmers in rural areas.
Consequences of the above challenges
Highest number of farmers suicides: The National Crime Records Bureau of India reported that a total of 296,438 Indian farmers had committed suicide between 1995-2014. High debt burden and crop failure remain the major reasons for it.
High wastage of agricultural products: A rough estimated figure by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) – Approximately 40% of the food produced in India is wasted every year due to fragmented food and inefficacious supply chain system. The irony is that loss occurs even before the food reaches the consumer
Low income of farmers: a report released by the National Statistical Office in 2021 reveals the pathetic income level of Indian farmers. The average monthly income from different sources per agricultural household from July 2018 to June 2019 comes to only ₹10,218, where a net receipt is obtained considering the ‘paid out expenses’ approach. This amount of income further reduces to ₹8,337 when net receipt is obtained considering both the paid-out and imputed expenses.
High Disguised Unemployment: As per Census statistics, the rural population in India stands at 833 million, constituting almost 68 per cent of the total. While the agriculture sector engages 49 per cent of the total labour force in the country, its contribution to overall GVA is only 17 per cent which shows the overdependence of the Indian labour force on agriculture resulting in significant hidden or disguised unemployment in the sector and thus lower labour productivity.
Increasing chemical and pesticide usage: since the availability of agricultural land is decreasing in India, the pressure on existing agricultural land is increasing to produce more food. In this quest, chemicals and pesticide usage is increasing in India. 275 pesticides were registered for use in India, of which about 255 are chemical poisons. In total pesticide consumption, insecticides occupy the highest share in India. However, India shares only 1% of the global pesticide use.
High dependence on government and MSP: As agricultural production in India is still heavily dependent on rainfall and its spatial distribution, adverse climatic conditions like drought, flood and market factors, Indian farmers are highly dependent on government support schemes and policies such as MSP during every stage of growing a crop.
Low private participation: due to price uncertainties, low confidence of farmers in private players and weak supply chains in the agriculture sector, the private sector is largely uninterested in investing in the agriculture sector, which leads to low capital formation, poor technologies penetration and high dependence on government.
Some solutions to tackle these challenges
(A) Promoting new technologies and reforming agricultural research and extension:
Major reform and strengthening of India’s agricultural research and extension systems is one of the most important needs for agricultural growth.
These services have declined over time due to chronic underfunding of infrastructure and operations, no replacement of aging researchers, or broad access to state-of-the-art technologies.
Research now has little to provide beyond the time-worn packages of the past.
(B) Improving Water Resources and Irrigation
Agriculture is India’s largest user of water.
However, increasing competition for water between industry, domestic use and agriculture has highlighted the need to plan and manage water on a river basin and multi-sectoral basis.
As urban and other demands multiply, less water is likely to be available for irrigation. Ways to radically enhance the productivity of irrigation (“more crop per drop”) need to be found.
Piped conveyance, better on-farm management of water, and the use of more efficient delivery mechanisms such as drip irrigation are among the actions that could be taken.
(C) Facilitating crop diversification to higher-value commodities
Encouraging farmers to diversify to higher-value commodities will be a significant factor for higher agricultural growth, particularly in rain-fed areas where poverty is high.
Moreover, considerable potential exists for expanding agro-processing and building competitive value chains from producers to urban centers and export markets.
While diversification initiatives should be left to farmers and entrepreneurs, the Government can, first and foremost, liberalize constraints to marketing, transport, export and processing.
(D) Promoting high-growth commodities
Some agricultural sub-sectors have a particularly high potential for expansion, notably dairy.
The livestock sector, primarily due to dairy, contributes over a quarter of agricultural GDP and is a source of income for 70% of India’s rural families, mostly those who are poor and headed by women.
Growth in milk production, at about 4% per annum, has been brisk, but future domestic demand is expected to grow by at least 5% per annum.
Milk production is constrained, however, by the poor genetic quality of cows, inadequate nutrients, inaccessible veterinary care, and other factors.
(E) Developing markets, agricultural credit and public expenditures
India’s legacy of extensive government involvement in agricultural marketing has created restrictions in internal and external trade.
Even so, private sector investment in marketing, value chains and agro-processing is growing, but much slower than potential.
While some restrictions are being lifted, considerably more needs to be done to enable diversification and minimize consumer prices.
Improving access to rural finance for farmers is another need as it remains difficult for farmers to get credit.
(F) Climate change mitigation
More extreme events – droughts, floods, erratic rains – are expected and would have the greatest impact in rain-fed areas.
The watershed program, allied with initiatives from agricultural research and extension, maybe the most suited agricultural program for promoting new varieties of crops and improved farm practices.
(I) Marketing reforms
In the absence of a properly organized market and sufficient transportation facilities, Indian farmers face the problem of low incomes from their vendible surplus crops.
As a result, farmers have fallen prey to distributors for the fast discarding of their crops at the lower price and uneconomic.
Price fluctuations in agricultural products are also a significant threat to Indian agriculture.
Price stability is important not only for farmers, but also for buyers, exporters, and agro-based industries.
The price movements of agricultural products in India are neither smooth nor uniform, resulting in a fluctuating pattern.
(J) Minimizing Post-Harvest Losses
Wastage of food products due to inefficient postharvest practices is one of the important factors behind high food inflation in India. Wastages take place at all levels of the food value chain – starting from the level of farmers to the levels of transporters.
Agricultural economists have recognized that there is tremendous potential to increase the availability of agricultural produce, particularly horticultural crops like fruits and vegetables, by reducing wastage through the build-up of cold storage, warehousing, packaging and cold transport chain infrastructure.
(K) Developing Food Processing Industry
Food processing is a sunrise industry and the demand for processed food in India is likely to increase steadily with rapid urbanization, rising per capita income and more women joining the workforce.
Despite having huge growth potential, the food processing industry in India is currently at a nascent stage – accounting for less than 10 per cent of the total food produced in the country
Steps taken by the government in this regard
The Government of India has taken several steps which include:
Improvement in soil fertility through the Soil Health Card scheme.
Providing improved access to irrigation and enhanced water efficiency through Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY).
Supporting organic farming through Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY).
Support for the creation of a unified national agriculture market to boost the income of farmers.
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has been launched to mitigate the risk of crop loss in the agriculture sector.
Launch of e-NAM portal for online trading in agricultural products.
Ashok Dalwai committee was formed to suggest measures to double income of Indian farmers.
Government accepted the recommendations of the MS Swaminathan commission to provide MSP at 1.5 times the cost of production of the crop.
Multiple schemes have been launched for the allied agriculture activities like Matsya sampada yojna for fisheries, Rashtriya Gokul mission for livestock sector etc so as double income of farmers.
Conclusion
Indian agriculture scaled new heights with record production of various food grains, commercial and horticultural crops, exhibiting resilience and ensuring food security during the COVID period. The sector, however, confronted various challenges, mitigation of which requires a holistic policy approach.
Addressing these challenges would require a second green revolution focussed on the agriculture water-energy nexus, making agriculture more climate resistant and environmentally sustainable.
The Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission, which is aimed at making India the global hub for the production of green hydrogen.
What is Green Hydrogen?
Green hydrogen is hydrogen gas produced through the electrolysis of water.
It is an energy-intensive process for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen— using renewable power to achieve this.
The current cost of green hydrogen in India is ₹300 to ₹400 per kg.
Green Hydrogen Mission
The National Hydrogen Mission was launched on August 15, 2021, with a view to cutting down carbon emissions and increasing the use of renewable sources of energy.
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will formulate the scheme guidelines for implementation.
Key features
Power capacity: The mission seeks to promote the development of green hydrogen production capacity of at least 5 MMT per annum with an associated renewable energy capacity addition of about 125 GW in the country by 2030.
Job creation: It envisages an investment of over ₹8 lakh crore and creation of over 6 lakh jobs by 2030.
Reducing energy import bill: It will also result in a cumulative reduction in fossil fuel imports of over ₹1 lakh crore and abatement of nearly 50 MMT of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Export promotion: The mission will facilitate demand creation, production, utilisation and export of green hydrogen.
Incentivization: Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition Programme (SIGHT), two distinct financial incentive mechanisms targeting domestic manufacturing of electrolysers and production of green hydrogen will be provided under the mission.
Green Hydrogen Hubs: Regions capable of supporting large-scale production and/or utilisation of hydrogen will be identified and developed as Green Hydrogen Hubs.
Hydrogen Energy: A Backgrounder
Hydrogen is an important source of energy since it has zero carbon content and is a non-polluting source of energy in contrast to hydrocarbons that have net carbon content in the range of 75–85 per cent.
Hydrogen energy is expected to reduce carbon emissions that are set to jump by 1.5 billion tons in 2021.
It has the highest energy content by weight and lowest energy content by volume.
As per International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Hydrogen shall make up 6 per cent of total energy consumption by 2050.
Hydrogen energy is currently at a nascent stage of development, but has considerable potential for aiding the process of energy transition from hydrocarbons to renewable.
Why hydrogen?
Better properties: At standard temperature and pressure, hydrogen is a nontoxic, nonmetallic, odourless, tasteless, colourless, and highly combustible diatomic gas.
Clean fuel: Hydrogen fuel is a zero-emission fuel when burned with oxygen. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines. It is also used as a fuel for spacecraft propulsion.
Ample sources: Hydrogen can be sourced from natural gas, nuclear power, biomass, and renewable power like solar and wind.
Phasing out carbon: India remains committed to environmental and climate causes with a massive thrust on deploying renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
Diversification of our energy basket: This would be the key lever enabling this transition. That’s why the emergence of hydrogen at the centre stage is a welcome development.
How Hydrogen can be produced?
Commercially viable Hydrogen can be produced from –
Hydrocarbons including natural gas, oil and coal through processes like steam methane reforming, partial oxidation and coal gasification
Renewables like water, sunlight and wind through electrolysis and photolysis and other thermo-chemical processes.
How is Green Hydrogen produced?
For source material, green hydrogen today is typically generated from water through a process known as electrolysis, which uses an electric current to split water into its component molecules of hydrogen and oxygen.
This is done using a device called an electrolyzer, which utilizes a cathode and an anode (positively and negatively charged electrodes).
This process produces only oxygen – or steam – as a by-product.
As for energy supply, to qualify as “green hydrogen,” the source of electricity used for electrolysis must derive from renewable power, such as wind or solar energy.
Currently the production of green hydrogen is two or three times more expensive than blue hydrogen.
How can green hydrogen be used?
Hydrogen can be used in broadly two ways. It can be burnt to produce heat or fed into a fuel cell to make electricity.
Fuel-cellMobility: Hydrogen electric cars and trucks
Container ships powered by liquid ammonia made from hydrogen
“Green steel” refineries burning hydrogen as a heat source rather than coal
Hydrogen-powered electricity turbines that can generate electricity at times of peak demand to help firm the electricity grid
Challenges in producing Green Hydrogen
India’s transition towards a green hydrogen economy (GHE) can only happen once certain key issues are addressed.
Supply-Chain Issues: GHE hinges upon the creation of a supply chain, starting from the manufacture of electrolysers to the production of green hydrogen, using electricity from a renewable energy source.
Technology: Green hydrogen needs electrolysers to be built on a scale larger than we’ve yet seen.
Storage: Either very high pressures or very high temperatures are required, both with their own technical difficulties.
Explosion Hazard: It is hazardous because of its low ignition energy and high combustion energy.
Risk to use: Automotive fuels are highly inflammable, but a vehicle laden with hydrogen is likely to be more vulnerable in case of a major accident.
High Cost of Production: To become competitive, the price per kilogram of green hydrogen has to reduce to a benchmark of $2/kg. At these prices, green hydrogen can compete with natural gas.
Energy intensivity: Creating green hydrogen needs a huge amount of electricity, which means an enormous increase in the amount of wind and solar power to meet global targets.
Lack of proper infrastructure, only 500 Hydrogen stations exist globally. Only countable manufacturers are involved as market players in this technology.
Others: Low user acceptance and social awareness. Developing after-sales service for hydrogen technology.
Policy and Economic Challenges
Economic sustainability: One of the biggest challenges faced by the industry for using hydrogen commercially is the economic sustainability of extracting green or blue hydrogen.
Technological challenges: The technology used in production and use of hydrogen like Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and hydrogen fuel cell technology are at nascent stage.
Cost Factor: These technologies are expensive which in turn increases the cost of production of hydrogen and will require a lot of investment which in turn add fiscal pressure on government.
Higher Maintenance costs: Maintenance costs for fuel cells post-completion of a plant can be costly.
Need for legal and administrative adherence: Certification mechanisms, recommendations, and regulations for different components of the system.
Way forward
Hydrogen energy is at a nascent stage of development but has significant potential for realizing the energy transition in India.
The new policy is a futuristic vision that can help the country not only cut down its carbon emissions but also diversify its energy basket and reduce external reliance.
India’s transition can be a testament to the world on the achievement of energy security, without compromising the goal of sustainable development.
The GoI must strongly pursue the objective of creating a GHE to make India a global manufacturing hub and place itself at the top of the green hydrogen export market.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the “Broadcasting Infrastructure and Network Development (BIND)” scheme to upgrade Prasar Bharati to expand the public service broadcasting infrastructure across the country.
Prasar Bharati
Prasar Bharati is India’s state-owned public broadcaster, headquartered in New Delhi.
It is a statutory autonomous body set up by Prasar Bharati Act, 1990.
It comprises the Doordarshan Television Network and Akashvani All India Radio, which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
BIND Scheme
BIND scheme is the vehicle for providing financial support to Prasar Bharati for expenses related to expansion and upgradation of its broadcasting infrastructure, content development and civil work.
Its features include-
Outreach expansion: It will enable the public broadcaster to undertake a major upgradation of its facilities with better infrastructure which will widen its reach, in the LWE, border and strategic areas and provide high quality content to the viewers.
Quality content: Another major priority area of the scheme is the development of high-quality content for both domestic and international audience and ensuring availability of diverse content to the viewers.
More TV channels: It seeks to upgrade the capacity of DTH platform to accommodate more channels.
Expansion of radio coverage: The scheme will increase coverage of AIR FM transmitters in the country to 66 percent by geographical area and 80 percent by population up from 59 percent and 68 percent respectively.
Free DISH services: The scheme also envisages free distribution of over 8 lakh DD Free Dish STBs to people living in remote, tribal, left wing extremism inflicted and border areas.
Benefits provided
Ans. Employment generation
The project has the potential to generate indirect employment by way of manufacturing and services related to supply and installation of broadcast equipment.
Content generation and content innovation for AIR and DD has the potential of indirect employment of persons with varied experience of different media fields in the content production sector including TV/radio production, transmission and associated media-related services.
Further, the project for expansion of the reach of DD Free Dish is expected to generate employment opportunities in the manufacturing of the DD Free Dish DTH boxes.
India’s Services sector reported a sharp growth with Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) surging to 58.5 last month from 56.4 in November 2022.
Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)
PMI is an indicator of business activity — both in the manufacturing and services sectors.
It is a survey-based measure that asks the respondents about changes in their perception of some key business variables from the month before.
It is calculated separately for the manufacturing and services sectors and then a composite index is constructed.
The PMI is compiled by IHS Markit based on responses to questionnaires sent to purchasing managers in a panel of around 400 manufacturers.
How is the PMI derived?
The PMI is derived from a series of qualitative questions.
Executives from a reasonably big sample, running into hundreds of firms, are asked whether key indicators such as output, new orders, business expectations and employment were stronger than the month before and are asked to rate them.
How does one read the PMI?
A figure above 50 denotes expansion in business activity. Anything below 50 denotes contraction.
Higher the difference from this mid-point greater the expansion or contraction. The rate of expansion can also be judged by comparing the PMI with that of the previous month data.
If the figure is higher than the previous month’s then the economy is expanding at a faster rate.
If it is lower than the previous month then it is growing at a lower rate.
What are its implications for the economy?
The PMI is usually released at the start of the month, much before most of the official data on industrial output, manufacturing and GDP growth becomes available.
It is, therefore, considered a good leading indicator of economic activity.
Economists consider the manufacturing growth measured by the PMI as a good indicator of industrial output, for which official statistics are released later.
Central banks of many countries also use the index to help make decisions on interest rates.
Issues related to ATM/debit cards and mobile/electronic banking were the top grounds of complaints received at the Office of Banking Ombudsman (OBO).
Why in news?
Of these, 3,04,496 complaints were handled by the 22 Offices of RBI Ombudsman (ORBIOs), including the complaints received under the three erstwhile Ombudsman Schemes till November 11, 2021.
Complaints related to ATM/ debit cards were the highest at 14.6% of the total, followed by mobile/ electronic banking at 13.6%.
About 90% of the total complaints were received through digital modes, including on the online Complaint Management System (CMS) portal.
Majority 66.1% of the maintainable complaints were resolved through mutual settlement/ conciliation/ mediation.
BankingOmbudsman Scheme
The Banking Ombudsman Scheme is an expeditious and inexpensive forum for bank customers for resolution of complaints relating to certain services rendered by banks.
It is introduced under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 by RBI with effect from 1995.
Presently the Banking Ombudsman Scheme 2006 (As amended upto July 1, 2017) is in operation.
All Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks and Scheduled Primary Co-operative Banks are covered under the Scheme.
As per the present regulations, the ombudsman redressal is allowed for complaints where the compensation amount for any loss suffered by the complainant is limited to Rs 20 lakh.
Under the RBI-OS, 2021, following the ‘One Nation, One Ombudsman’ principle, the territorial jurisdictions have been abrogated, and complaints are assigned to all the ombudsmen by the CMS.
What about other sectors?
The Reserve Bank Integrated Ombudsman Scheme (RBIOS) amalgamates three ombudsman scheme of RBI – banking ombudsman scheme of 2006, ombudsman scheme for NBFCs of 2018 and ombudsman scheme of digital transactions of 2019.
The unified ombudsman scheme will provide redress of customer complaints involving deficiency in services if the grievance is not resolved to the satisfaction of the customers or not replied within a period of 30 days.
The new scheme also includes non-scheduled primary co-operative banks with a deposit size of Rs 50 crore and above.
The integrated scheme makes it a “One Nation One Ombudsman’ approach and jurisdiction neutral.
Black carbon aerosols have indirectly affected the mass gain of the Tibetan Plateau glaciers by changing long-range water vapour transport from the South Asian monsoon region, a study has found.
What are Black Carbon Aerosols?
Black Carbon (BC) aerosol, often called soot, is the dominant form of light absorbing particulate matter in the atmosphere.
They are emitted by incomplete combustion processes, both human (e.g., diesel engines) and natural (e.g., wildfire).
Its ability to absorb visible and infrared radiation means BC can heat the atmosphere and darken surfaces, specifically snow and ice.
These effects have important consequences on earth’s climate and climate change.
BC may also have adverse impacts on human health. Unlike long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, BC is removed from the atmosphere in 1-2 weeks, so its impacts tend to be more regional rather than global.
Deposition over Himalayas
The South Asia region adjacent to the Tibetan Plateau has among the highest levels of black carbon emission in the world.
Many studies have emphasised black carbon aerosols from South Asia can be transported across the Himalayas to the inland region of the Tibetan Plateau.
Impact on glaciers melting
Black carbon deposition in snow reduces the albedo of surfaces — a measure of how much of Sun’s radiations are reflected.
This accelerates the melting of glaciers and snow cover, thus changing the hydrological process and water resources in the region.
They heat up the middle and upper atmosphere, thus increasing the North-South temperature gradient.
As a result, precipitation in the central and the southern Tibetan Plateau decreases during the monsoon, especially in the southern Tibetan Plateau.
The decrease in precipitation further leads to a decrease of mass gain of glaciers.
From 2007 to 2016, the reduced mass gain by precipitation decrease accounted for 11% of the average glacier mass loss on the Tibetan Plateau and 22.1% in the Himalayas.
A bird survey conducted at the Silent Valley National Park identified 141 species, of which 17 were new. So far, 175 species of birds have been spotted in Silent Valley.
Silent Valley National Park
It is located in the border of Mannarkkad Taluk of Palakkad district, Nilambur Taluk of Malappuram district, Kerala, and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu.
This national park has some rare species of flora and fauna. This area was explored in 1847 by the botanist Robert Wight.
It is located in the rich biodiversity of Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.
Mukurthi peak, the fifth-highest peak in South India, and Anginda peak are also located in its vicinity.
Bhavani River, a tributary of Kaveri River, and Kunthipuzha River, a tributary of Bharathappuzha river, originate in the vicinity of Silent Valley.
The Kadalundi River has also its origin in Silent Valley.
New species spotted
Brown wood owl, Banded bay cuckoo, Malabar woodshrike, White-throated kingfisher, Indian nightjar, Jungle nightjar, and Large cuckooshrike were among the 17 species newly identified in the Silent Valley.
Paperless payments have been a big national goal ever since 8 November 2016, when India rendered ₹500 and ₹1,000 currency notes useless in a stunning decision that was upheld as valid by the Supreme Court on recently. Today, our cash intensity remains roughly on the same incline as it was earlier. But online payments have soared. This means a fine policy judgement call will need to be made soon.
The supreme court rejected petitions arguing that demonetization was done illegally and by 4:1 bench majority Supreme court held the process as satisfactory.
The overnight note-ban was also found to satisfy a general test of proportionality. For all the hardship caused by weeks of cash starvation, that exercise of authority was not judged too drastic for its aims.
The extent to which unaccounted-for money was flushed out, terror funding frozen and commerce formalized cannot reliably be estimated, but small businesses were clearly hit hard and India’s economy slowed down soon after.
The changing trend: How we are transacting?
Rise of digitals payments: The past half decade’s big trend in our use of money has been the exponential rise of a platform that’s part of our digital stack of public goods.
Spectacular success of UPI: Designed for instant transfers between bank accounts done via mobile phones, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has been a spectacular success since its 2016 launch.
UPI transactions for instance: According to National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), its operator, UPI processed more than 74 billion transactions in 2022, up 90% over 2021, worth almost ₹126 trillion, a 76% leap.
Examining feasibility of levying user fee on UPI and the E-rupee
Financial support to UPI: The case for UPI as India’s payment bedrock is weakened by the fact that while it levies no user fee, it isn’t a costless service. Last year, the finance ministry justified financial support for UPI on the ground that it’s a digital public good with immense convenience for the public and productivity gains for the economy.
Coast benefit review must be done: If public funds are increasingly needed to back UPI as it expands, we must put it to a cost-benefit review as we go along; UPI is already logging huge sums and the total for 2023 may be much more.
Promoting E-rupee: It’s not just a cost consideration that should make us promote RBI’s retail e-rupee instead for routine payments.
E-rupee is a direct liability of RBI: The E-rupee’s mass usage would involve circulation of money that’s a direct liability of the central bank (an IOU issued by it, i.e., like cash), which would better serve the cause of economic stability. This is because what RBI owes its currency bearers is entirely free of risk, while the same cannot be said of banks.
Online transactions: India is a leader in digital payments, but cash remains dominant for small-value transactions.
High currency in circulation: India has a fairly high currency-to-GDP ratio.
Cost of currency management: An official digital currency would reduce the cost of currency management while enabling real-time payments without any inter-bank settlement.
Conclusion
For superior systemic safety, the e-rupee should get a significant share of online payment swipes. Even if its holdings earn no interest, it could catch on if the security of its value, ease of liquidity and erasure of data trails (below a limit) are duly advertised. For an e-rupee to aid macro level prudence, it will have to eat into UPI.
As the great powers get at each other’s throats, the prospects for multilateral agreements have diminished. On both the economic and political fronts, the conflict among the major powers has sharpened. That makes India’s chairmanship of G20 more challenging.
Major wars and rebalancing: Major wars have always reshaped great power relations and rearranged the international system. Russia’s war against Ukraine will be no exception.
First world war: The First World War saw the collapse of the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and the Russian empires. It also helped the Bolsheviks in Russia form the Soviet Union, gave birth to new nations in Europe, and accelerated the rise of Asian nationalism.
The Second World War: Hastened the demise of European colonialism and heralded the rise of the United States and the Soviet Union as the superpowers. Washington and Moscow managed an armed peace in a divided Europe during the Cold War. The process of decolonization saw the birth of a number of new nations in Asia and Africa.
The Cold War: It led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, undid its sphere of influence in East and Central Europe and led to the rise of the unipolar moment. The era of massive economic interdependence that followed the Cold War saw the rapid rise of China and a slower but definitive emergence of India as a major power.
How Russia and China are colluding to change regional and global world order?
Asserting themselves against US: Moscow and Beijing, which were willing to acquiesce in the unipolar moment in the 1990s, began to assert themselves against the US-led international order in the 21st century. Europe focused on strengthening its economic and political integration, and sought greater strategic autonomy from the United States.
Apparent decline of USA: As they drew steadily closer over the last decade, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping bet that the apparent American decline was real and irreversible. That emboldened Putin to fancy his chances in ending Ukraine’s sovereignty.
China backed Russia against Europe: The seeming political disarray in the West also convinced Xi to back Putin’s attempt to reorder European regional security order. The partnership without limits and no forbidden areas of cooperation was unveiled less than three weeks before Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Only option is diplomacy: As the costs of war mount, the case for diplomacy will gain ground in 2023. While both sides talk about peace, they are also gearing up to fight through the harsh winter. Bridging that gulf between Russian and Ukrainian negotiating positions will occupy diplomacy in 2023.
Weaker Russia: Whatever the nature of the eventual settlement, Russia will come out weaker from this military misadventure. Putin’s attempts to eliminate Ukraine as an independent nation and roll back the eastward expansion of NATO have backfired. The war has consolidated Ukraine as a nation and NATO has expanded to include Sweden and Finland.
Self-defense Inability of Europe: The war has also demonstrated Europe’s inability to defend itself against Russia despite the EU’s economy being 10 times larger than that of Russia. But for now, and the near term, Europe will remain dependent on the US to defend it against an expansionist Russia. While Europe is weaker, trans-Atlantic NATO has become stronger.
US industries are winning: The US is emerging as a big winner from the Ukraine war. American oil companies are raking it in from high energy prices. US weapons like the HIMARS and its high technology companies like SpaceX with its Starlin satellite system and Palantir with its algorithms have actively shaped the battlefield in favour of Ukraine, the underdog in the war. Far more consequential is the fact that without being directly involved in the fight, the US is influencing the direction of the war and has the most leverage in defining the terms of peace in Ukraine.
Impact of Chinese and Russian aggression on Mid-power countries
US as reliable partner: Thanks to the overreach of Putin and Xi, the US has become a valuable partner for the middle powers at the receiving end of Russian and Chinese bullying.
Eyeopener for Germany and Japan: Russian expansionism in Europe and Chinese aggressiveness in Asia have compelled Germany in Europe and Japan in Asia to boost their defence spending.
Regional security Policy: Poland in Europe and Australia and South Korea in Asia have embarked on ambitious regional security policies.
What should be the approach of India?
India should rework its status: India that long relied on Russia to provide a regional balance of power will have to rework its great power sums. This should not be too hard, given India’s improving relations with the US and Europe and its focus on diversifying its defence partnerships.
Boosting the domestic capabilities: Delhi, however, will have to move much faster in developing the national capabilities and international partnerships to deter China’s aggressive actions on the border and balance Beijing’s power in the Indo-Pacific. Delhi certainly can’t take for granted that its current economic and political advantages will endure.
Prevent the breakdown of multilateral system: Finally, it is unlikely the world will return to the kind of multilateralism we got used to since the 1990s. India’s G20 leadership would be a success if it can prevent the complete breakdown of the multilateral system and generate major power consensus on a few issues.
Conclusion
India should take the advantage of chaotic world order to strengthen itself. Indigenous military capabilities, double digit economic growth and securing core foreign policy interest should be the top priorities for India.
Mains Question
Q. Major wars in world have often culminated into rebalancing of international politics. Comment. What should be the India’s approach towards new emerging global order in the aftermath of Russia-Ukraine war?
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