Experts and conservationists have raised concerns over the proposed location for a mega oil refinery in Barsu village of Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri district.
What are geoglyphs?
Geoglyphs are a form of prehistoric rock art, created on the surface of laterite plateaus.
They are made by removing a part of the rock surface through an incision, picking, carving or abrading.
They can be in the form of rock paintings, etchings, cup marks and ring marks.
Ratnagiri’s geoglyphs
Clusters of geoglyphs are spread across the Konkan coastline in Maharashtra and Goa, spanning around 900 km.
Porous laterite rock, which lends itself to such carving, is found on a large scale across the entire region.
Ratnagiri district has more than 1,500 pieces of such art, also called “Katal shilpa,” spread across 70 sites.
The figures depicted in the geoglyphs include humans and animals such as deer, elephant, tiger, monkey, wild boar, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, cattle, pig, rabbit, and monkey.
Moreover, they also include a high number of reptilian and amphibian creatures such as tortoises and alligators, aquatic animals such as sharks and sting rays, and birds like peacocks.
Why are they significant?
Tourism potential: Ratnagiri’s prehistoric sites are among three Indian attractions that may soon become World Heritage Sites. The other two include Jingkieng Jri, the living root bridge in Meghalaya, and Sri Veerabhadra Temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Lepakshi.
Evolution of art: The geoglyph clusters also are examples of advanced artistic skills, showing the evolution of techniques of etching and scooping in rock art.
President of India inaugurated ‘PRASAD’ project at the tourism facilitation centre in the pilgrim town of Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.
About Srisailam
The temple at Srisailam is the ancient and sacred place of South India.
The presiding deity of the place is Brahmaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy in natural stone formations in the shape of Lingam.
It is listed as one of the twelve Jyotirlingams existing in the country.
Development with PRASAD scheme
The pilgrim town will get a pilgrim complex, amenities centres, an amphitheatre, sound and light show, digital intervention, parking areas among others.
There is total outlay of ₹48.03 crore under the PRASAD project.
Back2Basics: PRASAD Scheme
PRASAD stands for Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spirituality Augmentation Drive (PRASAD).
It is 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme under Tourism Ministry.
Provisions under the scheme include-
Tourism Promotion and Tourist Ecosystem
Vocational Training for Tourists and Hospitality Business
Hunar se Rozgar tak (HSRT) and earn while you learn programs
US, has retained its global leadership for almost a century since World War I thanks to the culture of innovation backed by a solid base of research and development (R&D). China is challenging the leadership of US based on technology and innovation. If India wants to be a Vishwa guru it must invest in R&D.
Engine of growth: Innovation is rightly recognized as an engine for economic growth.
Atal innovation Mission: In 2016, the government launched the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) to create an ecosystem to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
Actual spending is less: All these are steps in the right direction, but the foundation of all this lies in how much India actually spends on R&D, both in absolute terms as well as a percentage of its GDP, in relation to other G20 countries.
Sustainable Target: SDG Target 9.5 calls upon nations to encourage innovation and substantially increase the numbers of researchers as well as public and private spending on R&D. Gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) is the proposed aggregate to quantify a country’s commitment to R&D.
What is the scenario of Global Investment in R&D?
Institute for Statistics (UIS): According to UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics (UIS) latest report, the G20 nations accounted for 90.6 per cent of global GERD (current, PPP$) in 2018.
Increased spending on R&D: Global R&D expenditure has reached a record high of about 2.2 trillion current PPP$ (2018), while Research Intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP) has gradually increased from 1.43 per cent in 1998 to 1.72 per cent in 2018.
Investment in PPP terms is inaccurate: Though looking at spending in PPP terms is a reasonable metric for welfare measurement in the economy, when it comes to technological prowess in high-end activities of R&D, it all boils down to measuring hard currency in US dollars.
G20 leader in investment: The G20 countries, accounting for 86.2 per cent of the global GDP and over 60 per cent of the global population in 2021, are the leaders in every way.
USA spends the Highest: The US leads the G20 by spending $581.6 billion on R&D followed by the European Union ($323 billion), and China ($297.3 billion) in 2018.
India spends negligible amount: India lags way behind with a paltry R&D expenditure of only $17.6 billion in 2018. In terms of their relative shares in G20 R&D expenditure, the US is way ahead with 36 per cent, followed by the EU (20 per cent), and China (18 per cent). India’s share is less than 1 per cent of G20 R&D expenditure in dollar terms.
Linkages between Research Intensity and Expenditure on R&D
Percentage to GDP: While the absolute expenditure on R&D provides a sense of scale, their percentage to the respective GDP provides the research intensity (RI).
South Korea Highest RI: It is interesting to note that in 2018 for which the latest information is available, South Korea has the highest RI at 4.43 per cent, followed by Japan (3.21 per cent), Germany (3.09 per cent), the US (2.83 per cent), France (2.19 per cent), China (2.14 per cent) and EU (2.02 per cent). India is ranked 17th in the G20, with a RI of 0.65 per cent (see infographics).
Example of Israel: One of the non-G20 countries is Israel, which, while having an R&D expenditure of just $18.6 billion, a population of only 9.3 million and a per capita income of around $51,430, has the highest RI of over 5 per cent. No wonder, Israel is known as a land of innovations, be it in defence or agriculture.
What India can learn from Israel?
Innovation growth and competition: The innovation system in Israel is a fundamental driver of its economic growth and competitiveness.
Active role of government: The government has played an important role in financing innovation, particularly in SMEs, and in providing well-functioning frameworks for innovation, such as venture capital (VC), incubators, strong science-industry links, and high-quality university education.
India can emulate Israel: Israel builds a strong case to show that despite being a smaller nation, sustainable growth can be achieved by prioritising investments in R&D. A lesson India can learn.
Mains Question
Q. What is difference between investment in R&D and research intensity? What is the missing part in India’s R&D and innovation ecosystem?
The third round of negotiations of the India-European Union (EU) free trade agreement concluded recently. The two sides are also negotiating an investment protection agreement (IPA), which will contain investment protection standards and an independent mechanism to settle disputes between investors and states under international law.
Regulatory troubles in India: Notwithstanding the laudable intent of the government to welcome them, foreign investors in India have often got into numerous regulatory troubles with the state.
Investors have sued India: Several foreign corporations like Vodafone, Cairn Energy, Nissan, White Industries, Telenor, Nokia, Vedanta have sued India to enforce the rights guaranteed to them in bilateral investment treaties (BITs). This is the main motivation behind the EU seeking an IPA with India.
India’s past of unilaterally changing the laws: EU investors can rely on Indian law for protection. But Indian law can be unilaterally changed to the detriment of the investor.
Slow Judicial process: The Indian judiciary is agonisingly slow in resolving disputes. Thus, the longing for protection under international law.
Non-justiciable tax regulations: India wants to push taxation measures outside the scope of the treaty by making tax-related regulatory measures non-justiciable. The EU has difficulty accepting this proposition given the recent history of India’s tax-related investment disputes with Vodafone, Cairn Energy, and Nissan.
Two tier court system: The EU’s investment proposal to India talks of creating a two-tier court-like system with an appellate mechanism and tenured judges to resolve treaty disputes between investors and the state.
EU’s proposal of MIC: This proposal is connected to the EU’s stand internationally for creating a multilateral investment court (MIC), negotiations for which are going on at the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The MIC is aimed at overcoming the weaknesses of the current arbitration-based system of settling investor-state disputes.
Lack of clarity from India’s side: India’s position on creating an investment-court-like system is unknown. India hasn’t publicly contributed to the ongoing negotiations at UNCITRAL towards establishing a MIC.
What is the issue of MFN and FET?
EU wants the MFN status: The EU’s investment proposal contains a most favoured nation (MFN) provision to ensure that EU investors do not face discrimination vis-à-vis other foreign investors.
India don’t want to include MFN: On the other hand, India’s position is not to include the MFN provision in its investment treaties because of the apprehension that foreign investors will use the MFN clause to indulge in disruptive treaty shopping. The solution to such disruptive treaty shopping is to negotiate for a qualified MFN provision and not exclude it altogether.
Fair equitable treatment: EU investment proposal contains what is known as a fair and equitable treatment (FET) provision, which is missing in the Indian 2016 Model BIT.
Making the state liable: The FET provision protects foreign investors, for example, by making the states liable if it goes back on the specific assurances made to an investor to induce investments on which the investor relied while making the investment.
Why IPA is need of the hour?
FDI is stagnant: Overall FDI to India has stagnated for the past decade at around 2 per cent of the GDP. In the case of the EU, while its share in foreign investment stock in India increased from €63.7 billion in 2017 to €87.3 billion in 2020, this is way below the EU foreign investment stocks in China (€201.2 billion) or Brazil (€263.4 billion).
Negative Impact of BIT terminations: Recent research shows that India’s decision to unilaterally terminate BITs has negatively impacted FDI inflows to India.
IPA needed to attract FDI: India needs the IPA with the EU to attract FDI for achieving the aspirational milestone of becoming a $10-trillion economy by 2030.
Conclusion
India needs to put its own house in order. India should review the 2016 Model BIT, as has also been recommended by the Parliament’s standing committee on external affairs.
Mains Question
Q. What is the investor protection scheme and why EU wants to include IPA in Free Trade Agreement with India? what are the hurdles in FTA between EU and India?
Health needs to be a central agenda for the G20 2023. It has been one of the priority areas for G20 deliberations since 2017, when the first meet of health ministers of G20 countries was organised by the German presidency. The G20 now has health finance in its financial stream and health systems development in the Sherpa stream.
An annual G20 meeting of health ministers and a joint health and finance task force reflects the seriousness the subject has gained.
The Berlin Declaration 2017 of the G20 health ministers provided a composite approach focusing on pandemic preparedness, health system strengthening and tackling antimicrobial resistance.
The Covid-19 pandemic gave added urgency to pandemic preparedness and the Indonesian presidency in 2022 made it the major focus. The Indian presidency needs to advance these agendas.
Global community engagement to strengthen Health systems
Universal Health Coverage (UHC): The concept of UHC was born in the 2000s to prevent catastrophic medical expenditures due to secondary and tertiary level hospital services by universalizing health insurance coverage.
UHC as a strategy to ensure healthcare for all: The UHC has been the big global approach for health systems strengthening since 2010, also adopted in 2015 as the strategy for Sustainable Development Goal-3 on ensuring healthcare for all at all ages.
Limited impact of UHC: However, the limited impact of this narrow strategy was soon evident, with expenditures on outdoor services becoming catastrophic for poor households and preventing access to necessary healthcare and medicines, while many unnecessary/irrational medical interventions were being undertaken.
What are the new approaches developed to strengthen healthcare system?
Highlighted the need to prioritise primary healthcare (PHC): In 2018, the Astana Conference organised by WHO and UNICEF put out a declaration stating that primary healthcare (PHC) is essential for fulfilling the UHC objectives.
Combined UHC- PHC approach: In 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted the combined UHC-PHC approach as a political declaration.
World bank report on benefits of PHC services during pandemic: The World Bank published a report in 2021, “Walking the Talk: Reimagining Primary Health Care After COVID-19”. The dominant hospital-centred medical system is becoming unaffordable even for the high-income countries, as apparent during the 2008 recession and subsequently.
What is PHC-with-UHC approach?
It means strengthening primary level care linked to non-medical preventive action (food security and safety, safe water and air, healthy workspaces, and so on)
It works through whole-of-society and whole-of-government approaches, and extending the “PHC principles” to secondary and tertiary care services.
This could be the most cost-effective systems design the comprehensive game changer that global health care requires.
What is to be strengthened, what initiatives can be applied and how?
Making health central to development in all sectors: Health in all policies, one health (linking animal and human health for tackling antimicrobial resistance and zoonotic diseases), planetary health, pandemic preparedness.
Health systems strengthening: Designing PHC-with-UHC for diverse contexts. Conceptualised as a continuum of care from self-care in households to community services, to primary level para-medical services and first contact with a doctor, services provided as close to homes as possible, affordable and easily deliverable.
Appropriate technologies to be adopted as a norm: By strengthening health technology assessment, ethics of healthcare, equitable access to pharmaceutical products and vaccines, integrative health systems using plural knowledge systems rationally.
Health and healthcare from the perspective of the marginalised: Gendered health care needs, Health care of indigenous peoples globally, occupational health, mental health and wellbeing, healthy ageing.
Easy access to health knowledge for all: decolonization and democratization of health knowledge, with interests and perspectives of low-middle-income countries (LMICs), prevention and patient-centred healthcare.
India has several pioneering initiatives that can contribute to the PHC-with-UHC discussion:
National Health mission and dedicated health facilities: Lessons from the National Health Mission for strengthening public health delivery; the HIV-control programme’s successful involvement of affected persons/communities and a complex well-managed service structure.
Democratized health knowledge: Pluralism of health knowledge systems, each independently supported within the national health system.
Certified Health personnel: Health personnel such as the ASHAs, mid-level health providers and wellness centres, traditional community healthcare providers with voluntary quality certification;
R&D and widely acknowledged pharmaceutical capacity: Research designed for validation of traditional systems; pharmaceutical and vaccines production capacity;
Digital health as an example: Developments in digital health; social insurance schemes and people’s hospital models by civil society.
Conclusion
What is required is the drafting of PHC-with-UHC (a PHC 2.0) with a broad global consensus and commitment to a more sustainable and people-empowering health system. Pursuing such an agenda would involve much dialogue within countries, regions and globally. India should use its presidency to draft a model policy focusing on primary healthcare that commits to a universal, affordable, inclusive and just healthcare system
Mains Question
Q. What is Primary HealthCare and Universal healthcare integrated approach? What steps are necessary to further strengthen sustainable healthcare system? Discuss how India can contribute to it under its G20 presidency?
Parliament recently passed the Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill 2022, with the Rajya Sabha passing it by voice vote.
Although the Bill was supported by members cutting across party lines, some concerns over certain provisions in the Bill were raised.
What is Maritime Piracy?
Essentially piracy is any illegal act, broadly defined as robbery on the high seas (i.e. outside of the 12nm limit of Territorial Waters).
However, robbery occurring within the 12nm limit is treated as a crime of robbery under the laws of the coastal state.
The aim of piracy is to extract the maximum monetary value possible by:
Hit and Run – Theft of ships’ cash and/or stores
Kidnap for ransom– removal of persons to extort release money
Hijack for Ransom– detention of the target to extort release money
Stealing ship and cargo – targeting of vessels (often during Ship-Ship operations) to remove cargo.
What factors favour pirate operations?
Legal and jurisdictional opportunities
Favourable geography
Conflict and disorder
Under-funded law enforcement/inadequate security
Permissive political environments
Cultural acceptability/maritime tradition ex. in Somalia
Reward
Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill 2022: Key Features
Defining Piracy: The Bill defines piracy as any illegal act of violence or detention or damage or destruction committed by any person, or by the crew or any passenger of a private ship. Such illegal acts come under the definition of piracy if they are committed against another ship or any person or property on board a ship, on the high seas.
Compliance with UNCLOS: The Bill will bring the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) into domestic law and empower Indian authorities to take action against piracy on the high seas. The Bill covers the sea beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is 200 nautical miles off the coast of India.
Penal provisions: The Bill provides for a maximum punishment of life imprisonment or fine or both, for anybody who commits any act of piracy. This punishment can increase to a life imprisonment or death penalty if any person is found to have caused somebody’s death or attempts to cause somebody’s death while committing the act of piracy.
Designated courts: The Bill also provides for designation of a specific sessions court in the States for speedy trial of offences under the law. Notably, this court would have the jurisdiction to handle cases against any person apprehended by or in the custody of the authorised personnel or police– irrespective of their nationality or citizenship of the person.
Broader jurisdiction: These courts would be able to handle trials against foreigners caught under this law as well, along with Indian citizens, or resident foreign nationals in India or stateless people.
Need for such law
Global compliance: India is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea adopted by the United Nations on 10 December 1982, and ratified the convention on 29 June 1995.
Filling the legislative gap: Up until now, it did not have any domestic law on maritime piracy.
Narrow scope of IPC: The Indian Penal Code provisions relating to armed robbery are usually used to prosecute pirates. However, this has proven to be inadequate in the past.
Rising cases of Piracy: The Gulf of Aden has seen a spurt in attacks by pirates operating from Somalia since 2008.
Vicinity to major shipping routes: This route is used by 2,000 ships each month for trade between Asia and Europe and the East coast of Africa.
Increasing India’s naval capabilities: India on its part is actively engaged in anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and the Eastern Arabian Sea.
Issues with the Bill
Capital Punishment: Under the Bill, if a person, while committing an act of piracy causes or seeks to cause death, he will be punished with death. This implies a mandatory death penalty for such offences.
Ambiguity over imprisonment: The Bill provides for imprisonment of up to 14 years if a person participates in an act of piracy. However, committing an act of piracy is punishable with life imprisonment.
12Nm boundary: The Bill applies to all parts of the sea adjacent to and beyond the limits of the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of India, i.e., beyond 200 nautical miles from the coastline.
Way ahead
Maritime security: By bringing a strong legislation, India has taken a lead on the issue of maritime security at a multilateral forum.
Protection of maritime trade: More than 90 percent of trade taking place by sea routes. So Anti-Piracy Bill is the need of the hour as the Bill will give the right to take action on high seas.
Secured Freedom of navigation (FON): The Bill will strengthen India’s credentials as a partner with other countries to make the world more piracy free.
The Food and Consumer Affairs Minister introduced a host of new initiatives, including a right to repair portal.
Right to Repair portal
On the ‘right to repair’ portal, manufacturers would share the manual of product details with customers so that they could either repair by self, by third parties, rather than depend on original manufacturers.
Initially, mobile phones, electronics, consumer durables, automobile and farming equipments would be covered.
What is Right to Repair?
It refers to proposed government legislation that would allow consumers the ability to repair and modify their own consumer products (e.g. electronic, automotive devices).
The idea behind “right to repair” is in the name: If you own something, you should be able to repair it yourself or take it to a technician of your choice.
People are pretty used to this concept when it comes to older cars and appliances, but right-to-repair advocates argue that modern tech, especially anything with a computer chip inside, is rarely repairable.
The Right to Repair movement aims for:
Easy repair: The device should be constructed and designed in a manner that allows easy repairs
Access to critical components: End users and independent repair providers should be able to access original spare parts and tools (software as well as physical tools) needed to repair the device at fair market conditions
No technical barriers: Repairs should by design be possible and not hindered by software programming
Proper communication: The repairability of a device should be clearly communicated by the manufacturer.
How did it came to existence?
The average consumer purchases an electronic gadget, knowing that it will very quickly become obsolete as its manufacturer releases newer and more amped up version.
As your device grows older, issues start to crop up — your smartphone may slow down to a point where it is almost unusable, or your gaming console may require one too many hard resets.
When this happens, more often than not, you are left at the mercy of manufacturers who make repairs inaccessible and an inordinately expensive affair.
Why is such right significant?
Exorbitant repair price: Often, manufacturers reduce the durability of the product, compelling consumers to either repurchase the product or get it repaired at exorbitant prices affixed by the manufacturers.
Lifespan enhancement: The goal of the movement is to increase the lifespan of products and to keep them from ending up in landfills.
Against planned obsolescence: The electronic manufacturers are encouraging such culture so that devices are designed specifically to last a limited amount of time and to be replaced.
Scarcity of natural resources: Obsolescence leads to immense pressure on the environment and wasted natural resources.
Mitigating climate change: Manufacturing an electronic device is a highly polluting process. It makes use of polluting sources of energy, such as fossil fuel.
Boost to repair economy: Right to repair advocates also argue that this will help boost business for small repair shops, which are an important part of local economies.
Issues with obsolete devices
Unfair trade practice: For manufacturers, either of these options is a win-win case, because high-priced repairs, as well as new sales, mean more profits.
High cost to consumers: This often led to higher consumer costs or drive consumers to replace devices instead of repairing them.
Generation of E-waste: The global community is concerned over the continuously growing size of the e-waste stream.
Recyclability: Up to 95% of raw materials used to produce electronic devices can be recycled, while the vast majority of newly produced devices use little to none recycled material due to the higher cost.
Why do electronic manufacturers oppose this movement?
Large tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla, have been lobbying against the right to repair.
IPR violations through reverse engineering: Their argument is that opening up their intellectual property to third party repair services.
Threats to device safety: Amateur repairers could lead to exploitation and impact the safety and security of their devices.
Personal data security: Tesla, for instance, has fought against right to repair advocacy, stating that such initiatives threaten data security and cyber security.
Sheer casualization: Tech giant has allowed repairs of its devices only by authorised technicians and not providing spare parts or DIY manuals on how to fix its products.
Right to Repair in India
The ‘right to repair’ is not recognised as a statutory right in India, but certain pronouncements within the antitrust landscape have tacitly recognized the right.
Necessary consumer right: Monopoly on repair processes infringes the customer’s’ “right to choose” recognised by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Acknowledgment by agencies: Consumer disputes jurisprudence in the country has also partially acknowledged the right to repair.
Upholding Competition: In Shamsher Kataria v Honda Siel Cars India Ltd (2017), for instance, the Competition Commission of India ruled that restricting the access of independent automobile repair units to spare parts as anti-competitive.
Part of consumer welfare: The CCI observed that the practice was detrimental to consumer welfare.
Laws for recycle: The e-waste (management and handling) rules addresses not only to handle the waste in an environmentally friendly manner, but also has laid down rules about its transportation, storage and recycling.
Way forward
Avoiding blanket waiver: While necessary clauses to maintain the quality of the product can be included, a blanket waiver should be avoided.
For instance, the quality assurance clause can be incorporated for use of company-recommended spare parts and certified repair shops.
Making available the repair manual: Making repair manuals available to certified business owners could go a long way in balancing the rights of consumers and manufacturers.
Sign a non-disclosure agreement to protect IP rights: Manufacturers can sign a non-disclosure agreement to protect the IP with certified repairers/businesses.
Alloting certification/license: Further, the lack of certification/licensing of repair workers is seen as a reflection of their lack of skills.
Insert right to repair in Consumer protection Act: The ‘right to repair’ can be said to be implicit in Section 2(9) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Reparability parameter: The product liability clause under Section 84 can be amended and expanded to impose product liability concerning various reparability parameters of the product.
Duration of product liability: The duration of imposing product liability may vary depending on the product and its longevity.
Bomb cyclone continued to unleash havoc as the death toll due to weather-related incidents in the United States mounted to 34 and has left millions without power.
What is Bomb Cyclone?
A bomb cyclone is a large, intense mid-latitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation.
It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly—by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.
When a cyclone “bombs,” or undergoes bombogenesis, this tells us that it has access to the optimal ingredients for strengthening, such as high amounts of heat, moisture and rising air.
Why is it called a bomb?
Most cyclones don’t intensify rapidly in this way.
Bomb cyclones put forecasters on high alert, because they can produce significant harmful impacts.
Its etymology
The word “bombogenesis” is a combination of cyclogenesis, which describes the formation of a cyclone or storm, and bomb, which is, well, pretty self-explanatory.
This can happen when a cold air mass collides with a warm air mass, such as air over warm ocean waters.
The formation of this rapidly strengthening weather system is a process called bombogenesis, which creates what is known as a bomb cyclone.
How does it occur?
Over the warmer ocean, heat and moisture are abundant.
But as cool continental air moves overhead and creates a large difference in temperature, the lower atmosphere becomes unstable and buoyant.
Air rises, cools and condenses, forming clouds and precipitation.
Where does it occur the most?
The US coast is one of the regions where bombogenesis is most common.
That’s because storms in the mid-latitudes – a temperate zone north of the tropics that includes the entire continental US – draw their energy from large temperature contrasts.
Along the US East Coast during winter, there’s a naturally potent thermal contrast between the cool land and the warm Gulf Stream current.