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.
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