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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • Gujarat grants Parole to Prisoners as Diwali gift

    The Gujarat government has decided to grant 15-day parole to prisoners above 60 years of age and women prisoners, except those booked in serious offences, as a ‘Diwali gift’.

    What is Parole?

    • Furlough and parole envisage a short-term release from custody, both aimed as reformative steps towards prisoners.
    • Parole is granted to meet a “specific exigency” and cannot be claimed as a matter of right.
    • Both provisions are subject to the circumstances of the prisoner, such as jail behaviour, the gravity of offences, sentence period and public interest.

    How is it different from Furlough?

    • Furlough may be granted without any specific reason after a convict spends a stipulated number of years.
    • It is a matter of right although cannot be claimed as an ‘absolute legal right’.

    Is ‘parole as Diwali gift’ an extraordinary move?

    • The state governments often take a compassionate view on applications for parole during festivals of Diwali, Rakshabandhan, etc.
    • The legislature/politicians do not have direct powers to grant parole on suo-motu cognizance.
    • The announcement only indicates that prisoners will have to make applications to the authorities concerned, which in turn will be considered with leniency and expeditiously.
    • The applications will, however, be subject to scrutiny and the prisoners’ conduct and gravity of their offence.

    Who can opt for parole and how?

    • The provision of parole is available to convicts found guilty by a court and such a prisoner.
    • The prisoner’s relative/legal aid may submit an application to the prison superintendent.
    • He/she in turn forwards the application to the ‘competent authority’, often under the jurisdiction of district magistrate concerned and comprising prison and police authorities, to sanction release.
    • After due verification of reasons and prisoner’s conduct by the competent authority, an order for grant of release on parole will be issued.
    • In case of rejection of the said application, a convict may approach the High Court.

    Duration of Parole

    • The Prison rules state that parole period may be granted for not more than 30 days.
    • The competent authority may exercise its discretion in case of serious illnesses or death of “nearest relative such as mother, father, sister, brother, children, spouse of the prisoner, or in case of natural calamity.”
    • Parole or extension of parole cannot be granted without a report of the police
    • Apart from the remedy to approach a high court for parole in case of a rejected application, a prison can also approach the high court directly in case of an extraordinary emergency.

     

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2021:

    Q. With reference to India, consider the following statements:

    1. When a prisoner makes a sufficient case, parole cannot be out denied to such prisoner because it becomes a matter of his/her right.
    2. State Governments have their own Prisoners Release on Parole Rules.

    Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

    (a) 1 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) Both 1 and 2

    (d) Neither 1 nor 2

     

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  • There’s a mismatch between India’s graduate aspirations and job availability

    Context

    There is a huge pool of unemployed university graduates with unfulfilled aspirations. This group of dissatisfied, disgruntled youth can lead to disastrous consequences for our society.

    Enhanced enrollment

    • Reservation: The extension of reservations to OBCs and EWS increased the enrollment of students from these socio-economic backgrounds.
    • Increased education institutions: In addition, the massive increase in the number of higher education institutions has led to an enlargement of the number of available seats — there are more than 45,000 universities and colleges in the country.
    • The Gross Enrollment Ratio for higher education, which is the percentage of the population between the ages of 18-23 who are enrolled, is now 27 per cent.

    Issues of employment opportunities

    • Unfortunately, the spectacular increase in enrollment in recent years has not been matched by a concomitant increase in jobs.
    •  Employment opportunities in the government have not increased proportionately and may, in fact, have decreased with increased contractualisation.
    •  Even in the private sector, though the jobs have increased with economic growth, most of the jobs are contractual.
    • Worse, the highest increase in jobs is at the lowest end, especially in the services sector — delivery boys for e-commerce or fast food for instance.
    • Thus what we see is a huge pool of unemployed university graduates with unfulfilled aspirations.
    • This group of dissatisfied, disgruntled youth can lead to disastrous consequences for our society, some of which we are already witnessing.

    Way forward

    • A reduction in the rate of increase of universities and colleges might not be politically feasible given the huge demand for higher education.
    • Increase vocation institutions: A concurrent increase in the number of high-quality vocational institutions is something that can be done.
    • There are upwards of 15,000 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the country currently.
    • Upgrading the existing ITIs, opening many more new ones with high-quality infrastructure and updated curriculum is something which should be done urgently.
    • There is a scheme to upgrade some ITIs to model ITIs.
    • However, what is required is not a selective approach but a more broad-based one that uplifts the standards of all of them besides adding many more new ones.
    • Industry might be more than willing to pitch in with funding (via the CSR route) as well as equipment, training for the faculty and internships for students.

    Conclusion

    These steps could help mitigate the mismatch between employment opportunities and the increasing number of educated youth in the country.

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  • MGNREGS faces negative net balance

    The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) faces a negative net balance of Rs. 8,686 crores, including payments due.

    About MGNREGA

    • It stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
    • This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
    • The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

    The objectives of the MGNREGA are:

    • To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
    • To create a rural asset base that would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.

    Features of MGNREGA

    • MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
    • The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
    • Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
    • Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.

    News: MGNREGS runs out of fund

    • The MGNREGS has run out of funds halfway through the financial year.
    • Supplementary budgetary allocations will not come until the next Parliamentary session begins.

    Implications on laborers

    • Delayed payment: Due to this, payments for MGNREGA workers as well as material costs will be delayed, unless States dip into their own funds.
    • Livelihood loss: MGNREGA data shows that 13% of households who demanded work under the scheme were not provided work.
    • Halt of work: Many workers are simply turned away by officials when they demand work, without their demand being registered at all.
    • Fall in demands: This has led to stop the generation of work. There is an artificial squeezing of demand.

    Why has MGNREGS acquired so much importance?

    • The MGNREGA, a demand-driven scheme, has provided many returnees relief during the covid imposed a lockdown for a year.
    • During last year’s COVID-19 lockdown it has provided a critical lifeline for a record 11 crore workers.

    Try this PYQ:

    Q. Which principle among the following was added to the Directive Principles of State Policy by the 42nd Amendment to the constitution?

    (a) Equal pay for equal work for both men and women

    (b) Participation of workers in the management of industries

    (c) Right to work, education and public assistance

    (d) Securing living wage and human conditions of work to workers

     

     

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    Also read:

    [Burning Issue] Reorienting MGNREGA in times of COVID

     

     

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  • In India, the steady subversion of equality

    Context

    The sharp turns away from democracy seen recently in the country must jolt citizens into stopping the descent.

    Equality in democracy

    • The central edifice of a democracy, or what makes it a revolutionary idea, is equality, or that it accords an equal status to all its people.
    • The promise of the far-sighted Indian Constitution was of equal rights to all.
    • If any benefit was accorded to smaller groups, religious or linguistic minorities or Dalits, it was in order to achieve substantive equality.

    Faith as a differentiator

    • The basis of citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, allowing for non-Muslims from three countries to fast-track their citizenship, was the most serious push to introduce religion into citizenship.
    • Impact on marital choice: In terms of marital choices, laws in the country in States where the national ruling party holds sway have drawn harsh attention on inter-faith couples.
    • The Gujarat law criminalising inter-faith marriages has been called out by the Gujarat High Court.
    • But the ordinance introduced in Uttar Pradesh (Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020) is now a law.
    • Food has been criminalised: Stringent laws on cattle end up penalising those who have a certain diet, namely beef. The mood in the country created and abetted by people close to the powers that be, has led to lynchings.
    • State governments and the Union government have mostly ignored the Supreme Court’s directions in 2018 to set up fast track courts, advice to take steps to stop hate messages on social media, or compensation to victims, or bringing in an anti-mob lynching law.
    • Circumscribe where on can reside: The Gujarat Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provision for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from Premises in Disturbed Areas Act, popularly known as the Disturbed Areas Act, circumscribes where one can reside.
    • The act was brought in an atmosphere where there was communal rioting and forced displacement, to ostensibly protect communities from distress sales, the twist accorded to it over the years firmly makes the forced separation of communities. evident.

    Hostile environment

    • Scholars like Thomas Blom Hansen and Paul Brass have unhesitatingly pointed to the role of violence that has historically been acceptable in Indian society and politics.
    • Scholars like Christophe Jaffrelot have pointed out that there will not be a seamless transition to an “ethnic democracy”.
    • The Indian nation is one formed on the promise of shared and participatory kinship, which recognised Indian nationalism as being distinct from the faith you practised at home.
    • Prioritising any one identity will have disastrous consequences and history provides enough evidence of this.

    Conclusion

    The mobs read together with actions of the Union government and that of State governments mark a sharp turn away from the democracy India claims it is. That must jolt us into recognising the distance we have already travelled down the wrong path. That may be the first step to try to wrest the descent into the darkness of an apartheid state.

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  • What India’s new water policy seeks to deliver

    Context

    Over a period of one year, the committee set up to draft the new National Water Policy (NWP) received 124 submissions by state and central governments, academics and practitioners. The NWP is based on the striking consensus that emerged through these wide-ranging deliberations.

    Major suggestion in NWP

    Demand-side: Diversification of public procurement operations

    • Irrigation consumes 80-90 per cent of India’s water, most of which is used by rice, wheat and sugarcane.
    • Thus, crop diversification is the single most important step in resolving India’s water crisis.
    • The policy suggests diversifying public procurement operations to include nutri-cereals, pulses and oilseeds.
    • This would incentivise farmers to diversify their cropping patterns, resulting in huge savings of water.

    2) Reduce-Recycle-Reuse

    • Reduce-Recycle-Reuse has been proposed as the basic mantra of integrated urban water supply and wastewater management, with treatment of sewage and eco-restoration of urban river stretches, as far as possible through decentralised wastewater management.
    • All non-potable use, such as flushing, fire protection, vehicle washing must mandatorily shift to treated wastewater.

    3) Supply-side measure: Using technology to utilised stored water in dams

    • Within supply-side options, the NWP points to trillions of litres stored in big dams, which are still not reaching farmers.
    • NWP suggests how the irrigated areas could be greatly expanded at very low cost by deploying pressurised closed conveyance pipelines, combined with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and pressurised micro-irrigation.

    4) Supply of water through “nature-based solutions”

    • The NWP places major emphasis on supply of water through “nature-based solutions” such as the rejuvenation of catchment areas, to be incentivised through compensation for ecosystem services.
    • Specially curated “blue-green infrastructure” such as rain gardens and bio-swales, restored rivers with wet meadows, wetlands constructed for bio-remediation, urban parks, permeable pavements, green roofs etc are proposed for urban areas.

    5) Sustainable and equitable management of groundwater

    • Information on aquifer boundaries, water storage capacities and flows provided in a user-friendly manner to stakeholders, designated as custodians of their aquifers, would enable them to develop protocols for effective management of groundwater.

    6) Rights of Rivers

    • The NWP accords river protection and revitalisation prior and primary importance.
    • Steps to restore river flows include: Re-vegetation of catchments, regulation of groundwater extraction, river-bed pumping and mining of sand and boulders.
    • The NWP outlines a process to draft a Rights of Rivers Act, including their right to flow, to meander and to meet the sea.

    7) Emphasis on water quality

    • The new NWP considers water quality as the most serious un-addressed issue in India today.
    • It proposes that every water ministry, at the Centre and states, include a water quality department.
    • The policy advocates adoption of state-of-the-art, low-cost, low-energy, eco-sensitive technologies for sewage treatment.
    • Widespread use of reverse osmosis has led to huge water wastage and adverse impact on water quality.
    • The policy wants RO units to be discouraged if the total dissolved solids count in water is less than 500mg/L.
    • It suggests a task force on emerging water contaminants to better understand and tackle the threats they are likely to pose.

    8) Reforming governance of water

    • The policy makes radical suggestions for reforming governance of water, which suffers from three kinds issues: That between irrigation and drinking water, surface and groundwater, as also water and wastewater.
    • Government departments, working in silos, have generally dealt with just one side of these binaries.
    • Dealing with drinking water and irrigation in silos has meant that aquifers providing assured sources of drinking water dry up because the same aquifers are used for irrigation, which consumes much more water.
    • And when water and wastewater are separated in planning, the result is a fall in water quality.

    9) Creation of National Water Commission

    • The NWP also suggests the creation of a unified multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder National Water Commission (NWC), which would become an exemplar for states to follow.
    • Governments should build enduring partnerships with primary stakeholders of water, who must become an integral part of the NWC and its counterparts in the states.

    Conclusion

    The new National Water Policy calls for multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach to water management.

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  • Should the NDPS Act be amended?

    • The Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has proposed certain changes to some provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act of 1985.
    • The recommendations have assumed importance in the backdrop of some high-profile drug cases including the recent arrest of Bollywood actor’s son.

    What is NDPS Act?

    • The NDPS Act, 1985 is the principal legislation through which the state regulates the operations of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
    • It provides a stringent framework for punishing offenses related to illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances through imprisonments and forfeiture of property.
    • This is a stringent law where the death penalty can be prescribed for repeat offenders.

    Key amendments suggested

    • To decriminalise the possession of narcotic drugs in smaller quantities for personal purposes.
    • Persons using drugs in smaller quantities be treated as victims.

    Issues with the NDPS Act

    Ans. First arrest and then investigate

    • First arrest and then investigate seems to be the principle for investigations under the NDPS Act.
    • Section 50 of the Act (conditions under which search of persons shall be conducted) needs to be followed scrupulously.
    • When officials stumble upon a person carrying drugs during raids or a routine check, the drugs must be seized in front of a Gazetted Officer or a Magistrate.

    Why such provision?

    • In cases of sudden development, the suspect is taken to the nearby Magistrate or the latter is brought to the spot and then only drugs are seized.
    • If this is not adhered to, the court acquits the accused persons. Only then the next stage of investigation commences.
    • While tracking drugs cases, investigators go from consumers to drug suppliers.

    Is there any scope of mi-use?

    • It is not possible at all. Once cannot manage all the people all the time.
    • Since the seizure procedure is to be followed, there could be one Magistrate at the time of seizing drugs, another during further investigation and a different Magistrate at the time of trial.
    • Moreover, governments can change.

    Challenges in enforcing the NDPS Act

    (a) Peddling

    • Since drug peddling is an organised crime, it is challenging for the police to catch the persons involved from the point of source to the point of destination.
    • Identifying drugs that are being transported is a challenge since we cannot stop each and every vehicle that plies on Indian roads.

    (b) Transportation

    • Most drug bust cases are made possible with specific information leads.
    • Unless we check every vehicle with specially trained sniffer dogs, it is difficult to check narcotic drugs transportation.

    (c) Production

    • The main challenge is to catch those producing these substances. Secret cultivation are mostly carried on in LWE affected areas.
    • Going beyond State jurisdiction, finding the source of narcotic substances and destroying them is another big challenge.

    (d) Delay in trials

    • Securing conviction for the accused in drugs cases is yet another arduous task. There are frequent delays in court procedures.
    • Sometimes, cases do not come up for trial even after two years of having registered them.
    • By then, the accused are out on bail and do not turn up for trial.
    • Bringing them back from their States to trial is quite difficult let alone getting them convicted.

    Other Challenges

    (a) Growing hopelessness in society

    • The COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, has aggravated anxieties among the youth.
    • Joblessness and livelihood losses are the major push factors.

    (b) Issues in rehabilitation

    • The proposal to send persons to rehabilitation centres is good on paper but we do not have the infrastructure to ensure that it is properly implemented.
    • We don’t have adequate de-addiction centre counsellors. We face an acute shortage of psychiatrists and counsellors.

    Issues in legalization of drugs

    • Legalisation of drugs usage will only compound the problem.
    • It could lead to the proliferation of drugs.
    • It is dangerous. More and more people may start using them.

    Way forward

    • We need to thoroughly examine why and how people are getting addicted to narcotic drugs.
    • No doubt the NDPS Act is stringent, but we need to make a distinction between the drug peddler and the end user.
    • The person using it in smaller quantities for personal use cannot be bracketed with the person producing narcotic drugs.
    • We need to make a clear distinction between a drug supplier and an end user.
    • A drug user needs to be seen as a patient. The Act as of now prescribes jail for everyone — the end user and the drug supplier.
    • Instead of suggesting proposals to change sections of the law for the entire country, it would be advisable to introduce this on a pilot basis in one State that faces an acute drugs-related problem.

    Conclusion

    • We should examine the root cause of the problem.
    • Relying only on law-enforcing agencies, however hard they are at work to address the problem, is not going to solve it.
    • Civil society and governments will have to work together to create an enabling environment to address the issue.

     

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  • Strengthening healthcare through ABHIM

    Context

    The Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (ABHIM), announced recently, seeks to realise greater investment in the health system as proposed in the Budget, implement the Fifteenth Finance Commission recommendations such as strengthening of urban and rural primary care, stronger surveillance systems and laboratory capacity.

    Measures of ABHIM

    • It will support infrastructure development of 17,788 rural health and wellness centres (HWCs) in seven high-focus States and three north-eastern States.
    • In addition, 11,044 urban HWCs will be established in close collaboration with Urban Local Bodies.
    • The various measures of this scheme will extend primary healthcare services across India.
    • Areas like hypertension, diabetes and mental health will be covered, in addition to existing services.
    • Support for 3,382 block public health units (BPHUs) in 11 high-focus States and establishment of integrated district public health laboratories in all 730 districts will strengthen capacity for information technology-enabled disease surveillance.
    • To enhance the capabilities for microbial surveillance, a National Platform for One Health will be established.
    • Four Regional National Institutes of Virology will be established.
    • Laboratory capacity under the National Centre for Disease Control, the Indian Council of Medical Research and national research institutions will be strengthened.
    • Fifteen bio-safety level III labs will augment the capacity for infectious disease control and bio-security.

    Way forward

    • There is a need to train and deploy a larger and better skilled health workforce.
    • We must scale up institutional capacity for training public health professionals.
    • Private sector participation in service delivery may be invited by States, as per need and availability.
    • ABHIM, if financed and implemented efficiently, can strengthen India’s health system by augmenting capacity in several areas and creating a framework for coordinated functioning at district, state and national levels.
    • Many independently functioning programmes will have to work with a common purpose by leaping across boundaries of separate budget lines and reporting structures.
    • That calls for a change of bureaucratic mindsets and a cultural shift in Centre-State relations.

    Conclusion

    The ABHIM can fix the weaknesses in India’s healthcare system.

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  • Preparing for outbreaks

    Context

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening healthcare infrastructure, in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

    Aims of Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (ABHIM) and how it seeks to achieve it

    • This was launched with an outlay of ₹64,180 crore over a period of five years.
    •  In addition to the National Health Mission, this scheme will work towards strengthening public health institutions and governance capacities for wide-ranging diagnostics and treatment, including critical care services.
    • The latter goal would be met with the establishment of critical care hospital blocks in 12 central institutions such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and in government medical colleges and district hospitals in 602 districts.
    • Laboratories and their preparedness: The government will be establishing integrated district public health labs in 730 districts to provide comprehensive laboratory services.
    • Research: ABHIM will focus on supporting research on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, including biomedical research to generate evidence to inform short-term and medium-term responses to such pandemics.
    • One health approach: The government also aims to develop a core capacity to deliver the ‘one health’ approach to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease outbreaks in humans and animals.
    • Surveillance labs: A network of surveillance labs will be developed at the block, district, regional and national levels for detecting, investigating, preventing, and combating health emergencies and outbreaks.
    • Local capacities in urban areas: A major highlight of the current pandemic has been the requirement of local capacities in urban areas.
    • The services from the existing urban primary health centres will be expanded to smaller units – Ayushman Bharat Urban Health and Wellness Centres and polyclinics or specialist clinics.

    Conclusion

    The Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (ABHIM) is another addition to the arsenal we have to prepare for such oubreaks in the future.

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  • Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission

    PM has launched the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (AB-HIM), one of the largest pan-India schemes for strengthening healthcare infrastructure.

    AB- Health Infrastructure Mission

    • AB-HIM is being rolled out as India’s largest scheme to scale up health infrastructure.
    • It is aimed at ensuring a robust public health infrastructure in both urban and rural areas, capable of responding to public health emergencies or disease outbreaks.

    Key features

    • Health and Wellness Centres: In a bid to increase accessibility it will provide support to 17,788 rural HWC in 10 ‘high focus’ states and establish 11,024 urban HWC across the country.
    • Exclusive Critical Care Hospital Blocks: It will ensure access to critical care services in all districts of the country with over five lakh population through ‘Exclusive Critical Care Hospital Blocks’.
    • Integrated public health labs: will also be set up in all districts, giving people access to “a full range of diagnostic services” through a network of laboratories across the country.
    • Disease surveillance system: The mission also aims to establish an IT-enabled disease surveillance system through a network of surveillance laboratories at block, district, regional and national levels.
    • Integrated Health Information Portal: All the public health labs will be connected through this Portal, which will be expanded to all states and UTs, the PMO said.

    Why is the scheme significant?

    • India has long been in need of a ubiquitous healthcare system.
    • A 2019 study has highlighted how access to public health care remained elusive to those living on the margins.
    • The study found that 70 per cent of the locations have public healthcare services.
    • However, availability was less in rural areas (65 per cent) compared to urban areas (87 per cent).
    • In 45 per cent of the surveyed locations, people could access healthcare services by walking, whereas in 43 per cent of the locations they needed to use transport.

     

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  • Mullaperiyar Dam Issue

    The Supreme Court has directed the Supervisory Committee to take an immediate and firm decision on the maximum water level that can be maintained at Mullaperiyar dam amidst torrential rains in Kerala.

    What is the news?

    • A report by United Nations has stated that the Mullaperiyar dam, situated in a seismically active area, faces the risk of failure.
    • Earlier this year, the Supreme Court warned the TN Chief Secretary against the failure to give information on the rule curve for dam which decides the discharge of excess water.

    Mullaperiyar Dam

    • It is a masonry gravity dam on the Periyar River in Kerala.
    • It is located on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in Thekkady, Idukki District.
    • It was constructed between 1887 and 1895 by John Pennycuick and also reached in an agreement to divert water eastwards to the Madras Presidency area.
    • It has a height of 53.6 m (176 ft) from the foundation, and a length of 365.7 m (1,200 ft).

    Operational issue

    • The dam is located in Kerala but is operated and maintained by Tamil Nadu.
    • The catchment area of the Mullaperiyar Dam itself lies entirely in Kerala and thus not an inter-State river.
    • In November 2014, the water level hit 142 feet for first time in 35 years.
    • The reservoir again hit the maximum limit of 142 feet in August 2018, following incessant rains in the state of Kerala.
    • Indeed, the tendency to store water to almost the full level of reservoirs is becoming a norm among water managers across States.

    The dispute: Control and safety of the dam

    • Supreme court judgment came in February 2006, has allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the level of the dam to 152 ft (46 m) after strengthening it.
    • Responding to it, the Mullaperiyar dam was declared an ‘endangered’ scheduled dam by the Kerala Government under the disputed Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006.
    • For Tamil Nadu, the Mullaperiyar dam and the diverted Periyar waters act as a lifeline for Theni, Madurai, Sivaganga, Dindigul and Ramnad districts.
    • Tamil Nadu has insisted on exercising the unfettered colonial rights to control the dam and its waters, based on the 1886 lease agreement.

    Rule of Curve issue

    • A rule curve or rule level specifies the storage or empty space to be maintained in a reservoir during different times of the year.
    • It decides the fluctuating storage levels in a reservoir.
    • The gate opening schedule of a dam is based on the rule curve. It is part of the “core safety” mechanism in a dam.
    • The TN government often blames Kerala for delaying the finalization of the rule curve.

     

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