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  • Health Sector – UHC, National Health Policy, Family Planning, Health Insurance, etc.

    Physical Inactivity, Neglected Burden on Economy

    op-ed snap | Governance | Mains Paper 2: Health & Education

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: NA

    Mains level: Physical and mental health and economy

    physical

    Context

    • Global status report on physical activity is WHO’s first dedicated global assessment of global progress on country implementation of policy recommendations of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity (GAPPA) 2018-2030.

    What are the findings of the report?

    • Poor physical activity standards: Over 80 per cent adolescents and 27 per cent adults do not meet the physical activity standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a new report.
    • developing non-communicable diseases: This will lead to 500 million additional people developing non-communicable diseases from 2020-2030 and cost the global economy $27 billion annually, it added.

    How physical Inactivity impacts health and Economy?

    • Changing lifestyles: Sedentary lifestyle of a large share of the global population has been linked to rising prevalence of heart diseases, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases.
    • Increasing Hypertension and depression: Of the 500 million new cases projected, nearly half will be attributed to hypertension and 43 per cent to depression, the authors of the report said.
    • A strain on the health systems: The report quantified the economic burden of not being able to meet the GAPPA target. The sharp rise in non-communicable diseases will also put a strain on the health systems in every country.
    • Rising cost of treatment: If the current prevalence of physical inactivity doesn’t change, the world will incur treatment costs of just over $300 billion till 2030, the report mentioned.
    • 70 per cent of health-care expenditure: The largest economic cost is set to occur among high-income countries, according to the analysis. This will account for 70 per cent of health-care expenditure on treating illness resulting from physical inactivity, it showed. Around 75 per cent of the cases will occur in low- and middle-income countries, it added.

    What are the government efforts to address the physical inactivity menace?

    • National physical activity policy: Less than half the countries in the world have any national physical activity policy, showed the analysis of 194 countries by WHO published October 19, 2022.
    • National policies are in operation: Less than 40 per cent of the existing national policies are in operation, the United Nations health agency noted in the Global status report on physical activity 2022.
    • Monitor physical activity among adolescents: As many as 75 per cent of countries monitor physical activity among adolescents, and less than 30 per cent monitor physical activity in children under 5 years.
    • Addressing lack of public Infrastructure: The report highlighted that data regarding progress on certain policy actions is missing. These include provision of public open space, provision of walking and cycling infrastructure, provision of sport and physical education in schools.
    • National physical activity guidelines: only 30 per cent of countries have national physical activity guidelines for all age groups, according to the findings of the report.

    physical

    What are the Recommendations of WHO?

    • Exercise benefits mental and physical health: Light exercise and even walking has proven benefits for mental and physical health, studies have shown.
    • Infrastructural changes by governments: Citizens cannot make healthier lifestyle choices without infrastructural changes by governments such as safe walking and cycling lanes. “In policy areas that could encourage active and sustainable transport, only just over 40% of countries have road design standards that make walking and cycling safer,” the WHO analysts found.
    • Five ways to address the policy gaps: 
    1. Strengthen whole-of-government ownership and political leadership
    2. Integrate physical activity into relevant policies and support policy implementation with practical tools and guidance
    3. Strengthen partnerships, engage communities and build capacity in people
    4. Reinforce data systems, monitoring, and knowledge translation
    5. Secure sustainable funding and align with national policy commitments
    • Four areas of policy intervention:
    1. Active societies,
    2. active environments,
    3. active people and
    4. active systems.

    physical

    Government of India’s efforts to promote physical activity

    • FIT India Movement: FIT INDIA Movement was launched on 29th August 2019 by Honorable Prime Minister with a view to make fitness an integral part of our daily lives. The mission of the Movement is to bring about behavioral changes and move towards a more physically active lifestyle.
    • Objectives of Fit India: Fit India proposes to undertake various initiatives and conduct events to achieve the following objectives:
    1. To promote fitness as easy, fun and free.
    2. To spread awareness on fitness and various physical activities that promote fitness through focused campaigns.
    3. To encourage indigenous sports.
    4. To make fitness reach every school, college/university, panchayat/village, etc.
    5. To create a platform for citizens of India to share information, drive awareness and encourage sharing of personal fitness stories.

    physical

    Conclusion

    • Physical inactivity is silent poison, killing the future of the citizens. Work from home, remote working has increased the physical inactivity among the working populations. Indoor games, mobile addictions, e-learning have reduced the physical activity of children. It’s a collective responsibility of parents, society and government to promote and encourage the physical activity among citizens.

    Mains Question Q.

    What are the ill effects of physical inactivity on health and economy? What are the policies of government India to promote healthy life style?

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  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    Efforts for Vulture Conservation

    op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Indian vulture

    Mains level: Efforts for Vulture Conservation, Role of vultures in the ecosystem, threats to vulture population

    Vulture

    Context

    • The Tamil Nadu government formed a committee to set up an institutional framework for the effective conservation of vultures. The State is home to four species of vultures the white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis), long-billed vultures (Gyps indicus), the Asian king vulture (Sarcogyps calvus) and the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus).

    Are the vulture population decreasing?

    • Absolute numbers are low: While the population of the vultures in the Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore districts has remained largely stable, experts state that the numbers are still extremely low, and that even a single poisoning event could lead to several of the species going locally extinct, especially the long-billed and Asian king vulture.
    • Fewer hatchings of vultures: Over the last few years, breeding seasons have also seen fewer hatchings than is the norm, with experts attributing the cause to lesser availability of prey as well as erratic weather.

    Vulture

    The status of Vultures in Tamilnadu

    • Sighting of vultures in Nilgiris, erode and Coimbatore: While there have been reported sightings of vultures in other districts including Dharmapuri; essentially the Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore districts are believed to form one of the largest contiguous expanses where vultures are spotted.
    • In the Tiger reserves and forest areas: Home to the nesting sites of three of the four species of vultures seen in the State, the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, parts of the Nilgiris forest division and the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve are crucial strongholds for the vultures in southern India.
    • Sighting of Himalayan griffon vulture: Occasional migrants such as the Himalayan griffon vulture and the Cinerous vulture are also spotted each year.
    • Larger population of vultures in the South of Vindhiya mountain range: Tamil Nadu boasts the largest population of vultures south of the Vindhiya Mountain Range. In the Nilgiris, researchers and forest department officials estimate that there are between 100 and 120 white-rumped vultures, 10 and 15 long-billed vultures and less than 10 Asian king vultures.
    • Spotted at Sigur plateau: Though Egyptian vultures are spotted in the Sigur plateau, encompassing the Nilgiris and Erode districts, they are not believed to use the landscape to breed, while researchers still remain unsuccessful in tracing the breeding sites of the critically endangered Asian king vulture.

    Vulture

    Role of vultures in the Ecosystem

    • As scavengers: vultures help prevent the spread of many diseases and can remove toxins from entering the environment by consuming carcasses of dead cattle/wildlife before they decompose.

    What are the Threats to the Vulture population?

    • Temple Tourism and increased activities around the temple: There are multiple. For one, temple tourism in the Sigur plateau is centered primarily around vulture habitats, such as Siriyur, Anaikatty and Bokkapuram. Over the last few years, there have been recorded instances of vultures abandoning nesting sites located too close to temples inside these reserves, with activists calling for strict controls on the amount of people allowed to attend these festivals.
    • Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs): Experts also agree that the use of some Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) to treat cattle, such as diclofenac, nimesulide, ketoprofen among others, has led to the crash in vulture populations across India.
    • Spread of invasive weeds: Another threat is the spread of invasive weeds such as the Lantana camara in vulture landscapes, which hinder the birds from scavenging as their large wingspans require plenty of open area to safely land and to take to the skies in case of any major threats.
    • Vulnerable to even natural drugs: Unfortunately, their tolerance for harmful substances does not extend to manmade drugs.
    • Climate change and forest fires: Finally, due to the illegal tapping of water along the streams running through these areas, possible climate change, and forest fires, the Terminalia arjuna trees, that many vultures use as nesting sites are disappearing.

    Vulture

    Steps taken to protect the vultures

    • Banning the harmful drugs: The State government has banned the use of diclofenac, a drug, to treat cattle, while there are strict restrictions for the sale of other NSAIDs in the Nilgiris, Erode and Coimbatore districts.
    • Vulture census: Additionally, as the vultures in the Sigur plateau utilize landscapes in neighboring Karnataka and Kerala, experts have called for a synchronous vulture census to accurately identify vulture populations and nesting sites.

    Conclusion

    • Only through a multipronged approach of increasing the amount of food available to the birds and managing invasive species can vulture numbers start rebounding.

    Mains Question

    Q. What important role does vulture plays in ecosystem? What are the efforts taken by central government for conservation of vultures in India?

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  • Electoral Reforms In India

    Election Commission can not breach Fundamental Rights

    op-ed snap | Polity | Mains Paper 2: Constitutional Bodies,Representation Of People’s Act

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: ECI

    Mains level: Election Commission , Electoral reforms and related issues

    Election

    Context

    • Preparations are going on in full swing for the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat. Election Commission had signed MoUs with over 1,000 corporate houses undertaking to monitor electoral participation of their workforce and publish on their websites and notice boards those who do not vote.

    Background

    • In June, the EC had asked central and state government departments, public sector units and corporate entities with over 500 employees to appoint nodal officers to identify employees who take leave on polling day but do not vote, The Indian Express reported.
    • The Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat has said that the employees of state public sector units and government departments who don’t vote will also be tracked.
    • The report also mentioned that on a recent visit to Gujarat, the CEC himself had said that though the commission cannot enforce compulsory voting, it “wanted to identify workers in big industries who don’t vote despite availing the holiday”.

    All you need to know about Election Commission of India

    • The ECI is a constitutional authority whose responsibilities and powers are prescribed in the Constitution of India under Article 324.
    • In the performance of its functions, the Election Commission is insulated from executive interference.
    • It is the Commission that decides the election schedules for the conduct of elections, whether general elections or by-elections.
    • ECI decides on the location of polling stations, assignment of voters to the polling stations, location of counting centers, arrangements to be made in and around polling stations and counting centers and all allied matters.

    Importance of Election Commission of India

    • Conduction of Election: The ECI has been successfully conducting national as well as state elections since 1952.
    • Electoral participation: In recent years, however, the Commission has started to play a more active role to ensure greater participation of people.
    • Discipline of political parties: It had gone to the extent of disciplining the political parties with a threat of derecognizing if the parties failed in maintaining inner-party democracy.
    • Upholds federalism: It upholds the values enshrined in the Constitution viz, equality,
      equity, impartiality, independence; and rule of law in superintendence, direction, and control over electoral governance.
    • Free and fair elections: It conducts elections with the highest standard of credibility, freeness, fairness, transparency, integrity, accountability, autonomy and professionalism.

    What is the criticism over the EC’s move to track who do not vote?

    • Unethical and against the democracy: Any coercion particularly coercion of the kind being proposed by the EC in this case betrays an authoritarian approach that is not only antithetical to democracy but is directly violative of the Constitution and the laws of the land.
    • Against the freedom of Expression: Constitution provides a fundamental right of freedom of expression. (Article 19). It is individual’s choice to cast their Right to vote or not to vote.
    • Revealing Identity would be violative of Article 14: Protection of elector’s identity and affording secrecy is therefore integral to free and fair elections and an arbitrary distinction between a voter who casts and a voter who does not cast his vote is violative of Article 14. Thus, secrecy is to be maintained for both categories of persons.” the list of non-voters be put up on a company’s notice board or website? It will clearly be contempt of court.
    • Supreme Court’s judgement on NOTA and mandatory voting: The Supreme Court, in PUCL vs Union of India, 2013, (popularly known as the NOTA judgment) has held that abstention from voting and negative voting are protected as freedom of expression a fundamental right. Earlier, in April 2009, the Court had taken the same view while dismissing a plea that sought to make voting mandatory on grounds of governments not representing the majority because of low turnouts.
    • No of circumstances that one can’t vote on the day: In every election, there will be those who do not vote out of conviction or for ideological reasons. More importantly, there are millions of daily wage workers, and many homeless and ill.

    Election

    What are the legal and constitutional provisions for a citizen?

    • Section 79 D of RPA Act: Section 79 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 defines “electoral right” to mean the right of a person to vote or refrain from vote at an election”. The law completely enables, but does not force, citizens to vote. The same provision exists in the Indian Penal Code, vide Section 171A (b).
    • Section135B of the RPA Act: Section135B of the Representation of People Act, 1951, grants a paid holiday to every person employed in any business, trade, industrial undertaking or any other establishment.
    • A compulsory paid Holiday: Even a daily wage worker shall be paid for the day.The only exception is essential services Contravention of the law carries a fine for the employer which may extend to Rs 500, which was fixed over 25 years ago.

    Rulings of the supreme court on the matter of voting rights

    • Free and fair election is a basic structure: In PUCL vs Union of India, the Court said: “free and fair election is a basic structure of the Constitution and necessarily includes within its ambit the right of an elector to cast his vote without fear of reprisal, duress or coercion.

    Election

    What does the Election Commission say over this new development?

    • Clarification by Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat: MoU’s are signed in the form of appeal for increasing registration and voter turnout, establish voter awareness forum in their organizations.
    • To track electoral participation: Election Commission said that it will help to track electoral participation of their workforce.
    • Less voting percentage: Out of seven least voting percentage districts during 2019 general elections, four were metropolitan cities. Voting percentage in urban areas is generally less, pulling down the overall voting percentage.
    • Purpose is to educate voters: CEC clarified MoU’s are only for voter education and facilitation and not for compelling them to vote.

    Election

    How to address the issue of less participation of voters?

    • Systematic voter education programme: The noble objective of enhanced voter participation can be best achieved through systematic voter education, amply demonstrated by the ECI in elections in all the states and Union territories since 2010 when a voter education division was set up. This soon evolved into its SVEEP programme. This has led to all elections ever since seeing the highest-ever turnouts.
    • Through Motivation and facilitation: The EC’s consistent efforts should be towards motivation and facilitation, rather than compulsion, are the best ways to address the issue.
    • The voter education programme: The voter education programme has sought to motivate the youth to participate in democracy by registering as voters, voting in every election and voting ethically that is, without inducement. It has involved schools and colleges to take the registration facility to the doorstep by introducing voter clubs, and youth icons and placing drop boxes in the public locations and online drop boxes.
    • Awareness in the corporate setup: Employers have been encouraged to create similar facilities in their offices. They are legally obliged to close their establishments on poll day, but this is seldom enforced.

    Conclusion

    • The noble objective of enhanced voter participation can be best achieved through systematic voter education, and awareness programs and not the cost of fundamental rights of the citizen which is enshrined the fundamental law of the land. Motivation and awareness could be the way for enhancing voter participation.

    Mains Question

    Q. What is the role of Election Commission of India? How do you see the compulsory voting in the light of the Constitution of India under the EC’s mandate of free and fair election? Discuss

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  • Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

    An Indian Pioneer of ORT

    op-ed snap | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Achievements Of Indians In S&T,S&T – Applications In Everyday Life

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: ORT Everyday application

    Mains level: ORT, Diseases treated by ORT, Cholera outbreak

    ORT

    Context

    • In the demise of Dilip Mahalabnis on October 16 we lost a pioneering public health physician the ORS pioneer who helped save millions of lives. In 1978, a Lancet editorial termed ORS the most important medical advance in this century.

    Background

    • ORT was first introduced worldwide in the 1970s to treat millions of children suffering from severe dehydration in crisis-stricken and impoverished areas. At the time, the world’s leading general medical journal The Lancet called ORT “potentially the most important medical advance since penicillin.”
    • A Lancet editorial in 1978 termed it “potentially the most important medical advance this century”.

    Interesting story of Dilip Mahalabnis and invention of ORT

    • Mahalanabis was trained as a paediatrician and joined the Cholera Research Programme of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Medical Research and Training (JHCMRT) in Calcutta in 1966.
    • His team was treating cases of the cholera epidemic in a camp in Bangaon, West Bengal that housed 3,50,000 refugees but ran out of intravenous fluids. He thought that it would be opportune to use ORS. As no ORS packets were available, they mixed salt and sugar solution (ORS) in drums and administered it to the cholera patients in the camps.
    • The library of the JHCMRT was converted into a factory. This was not a mandated mode of treatment and at great personal risk, Mahalanabis chose to respond to the humanitarian crisis in this manner.
    • It was evident in two to three weeks’ time that not only was the therapy working but that it was possible to administer ORT through volunteers (in the absence of a sufficient number of trained workers).
    • It was subsequently analyzed that ORS reduced mortality due to cholera or acute diarrhoeal diseases in these camps from 40 per cent to 5 per cent. They coined the term “oral saline” and rest is the story.

    ORT

    What is Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT)?

    • A fluid to correct dehydration: Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) entails drinking water with modest amounts of sugar and salts, specifically sodium and potassium to correct dehydration due to fluid losses from diarrhoea.
    • ORT ingredients: ORT combines three ingredients such as salts, sugars and water to quickly reverse the signs of dehydration. Through the process of osmosis, the salts and sugars pull water into your bloodstream and speed up rehydration.
    • Essential electrolytes which replenish Blood: ORT also replenishes your blood with essential electrolytes (minerals) that are lost due to intense exercise, exposure to extreme weather conditions, or diarrhea and other illnesses. Water doesn’t contain electrolytes and so, ironically, water alone cannot cure dehydration like ORT.
    • An effective electrolyte: Administration of fluids through the intravenous route used to be the mainstay of management of cholera till the results of a study demonstrated that an oral solution of glucose and electrolytes was effective for replacing water and electrolyte losses.
    • Quick and efficient: The translation of the basic science concept to quick and efficient practice was, however, not easy. And that is the fascinating story and sterling contribution of Mahalanabis and his co-workers on ORT.

    What is Dehydration?

    • Dehydration occurs when you use or lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don’t replace lost fluids, you will get dehydrated.

    ORT

    What is Disease Cholera?

    • Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae that can kill within hours if left untreated.
    • Most of those infected will have no or mild symptoms and can be successfully treated with oral rehydration solution. Cholera affects both children and adults.
    • Provision of safe water and sanitation is critical to prevent and control the transmission of cholera and other waterborne diseases.
    • Cholera remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development.

    Recent outbreak of cholera In India

    • Cholera is said to be endemic in India. However, the reported cases in India tend to be much lesser than the actual numbers, say doctors and experts.
    • The number of cases is rising in India because we still lack the basic sanitation, hygiene and access to clean water in many communities,
    • The country reports nearly 20,000 to 30,000 cases of cholera every year, usually during the monsoon season of July to September.
    • Climate change adds up another layer to the cholera outbreak.

    Contribution of ORT to the world.

    • As a perfect alternative over the prevailing doctrine: ORT was in marked contrast to the then prevailing doctrine of patients being given only sips of water without food, euphemistically called “resting the stomach”, often worsening the underlying malnutrition.
    • For Diarrhoea: An estimated 54 million diarrhoeal deaths were averted by ORT alone between 1978 and 2008, such was the magnitude of its beneficial impacts. ORT for the management of severe diarrhea was developed in the latter half 1960s. WHO launched a worldwide campaign in 1978 to reduce mortality related to diarrhea, with ORT as one of the key elements.
    • For cholera: Administration of fluids through the intravenous route used to be the mainstay of management of cholera till the results of a study demonstrated that an oral solution of glucose and electrolytes was effective for replacing water and electrolyte losses
    • Cholera pandemic: This period coincided with the seventh cholera pandemic (El Tor biotype) that started in Indonesia in 1961 and spread to East Pakistan (Bangladesh) by 1963 and to India in 1964. Though experiments with ORS were underway, the WHO responded in 1970 by distributing large amounts of intravenous fluids – a move marked by high transportation costs and limited utilization on account of a shortage of a trained health workforce. The focus of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), through the Cholera Research Laboratory in Dhaka, was to find a vaccine to protect the US troops from cholera attacks in Southeast Asia.
    • One solution for everyone: Athletes; people with illnesses, especially babies and toddlers; seniors; military personnel stationed in extreme climates; air travelers who lose electrolytes every time they fly: They all stand to dramatically improve their health and well-being with ORT.

    ORT

    Conclusion

    • Dilip Mahalanabis pioneered a simple and effective solution for diarrhoea that saves millions of lives which can be considered as one of the greatest contributions of Indian in medical sciences. To carry the carry legacy forward young scientists should step in.

    Mains Question

    Q. What do you Understand by Oral Rehydration Therapy? How it could be effective in tackling the yearly outbreaks of Cholera in India and the world. Discuss.

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  • Climate Change Negotiations – UNFCCC, COP, Other Conventions and Protocols

    PM launches Mission LiFE

    op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    World

    Context

    • Our world today is in turmoil, facing multiple, mutually reinforcing crises. for the first time since it began over 30 years ago, the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Report has warned that global human development measures have declined across most countries in the past two years.

    Background

    • Ever increasing Existential threat: The greatest existential threat of all, the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
    • Climate change and extreme forms of weather events associated with it: Nine of the warmest years on record have come in the past decade alone. This year’s record-breaking heat waves, floods, droughts, and other extreme forms of weather have forced us to face these increasingly devastating impacts.
    • Window for action is closing fast: Climate change is a disruption multiplier in a disrupted world, rolling back progress across the global Sustainable Development Goals. Commitments we have now will not keep warming below the 1.5°C target that gives us the best chance of averting catastrophe.
    • LIFE, a fresh perspective: LIFE, or Lifestyle for Environment, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at COP26 in November 2021, brings a fresh and much-needed perspective.

    World

    What is “LIFE” called by PM Narendra Modi?

    • LIFE: “LIFE – Lifestyle for the Environment”, PM Modi had proposed the one-word mass movement “LIFE” at the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Glasgow last November.
    • A theme for COP27: “LIFE”, a global initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be the theme of the India pavilion at the upcoming COP27 at Sharm-El-Sheikh in Egypt.
    • LIFE Movement: Subsequently, PM Modi launched ‘Lifestyle for the Environment – LIFE Movement’ on 5 June on the occasion of world environment day.
    • What is the vision of LIFE: The vision of ‘LIFE’ is to live a lifestyle that is in tune with our planet and does not harm it The people who live such a lifestyle can be called “Pro-Planet people.”

    What is LiFE-Movement?

    • Objective of LiFE: The idea promotes an environmentally conscious lifestyle that focuses on ‘mindful and deliberate utilisation’ instead of ‘mindless and wasteful consumption’.
    • Aim of LiFE: The LiFE Movement aims to utilise the power of collective action and nudge individuals across the world to undertake simple climate-friendly actions in their daily lives. The LiFE movement, additionally, also seeks to leverage the strength of social networks to influence social norms surrounding climate.
    • Creating Pro-planet people: The Mission plans to create and nurture a global network of individuals, namely ‘Pro-Planet People’ (P3), who will have a shared commitment to adopt and promote environmentally friendly lifestyles.
    • Seeks to behavioural change and individual actions: Through the P3 community, the Mission seeks to create an ecosystem that will reinforce and enable environmentally friendly behaviours to be self-sustainable. LIFE recognizes that small individual actions can tip the balance in the planet’s favour.
    • Mission liFE for India: Mission LiFE borrows from the past, operates in the present and focuses on the future. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle are the concepts woven into our life. The Circular Economy has been an integral part of our culture and lifestyle.

    World

    What can be done to fulfil the vision of LiFE?

    • Cultivating the attitude of individual responsibility starting from the home: Mindful choices cultivated by LIFE animate this spirit actions such as saving energy at home; cycling and using public transport instead of driving; eating more plant-based foods and wasting less; and leveraging our position as customers and employees to demand climate-friendly choices.
    • Applying the nudging techniques to encourage positive behaviour: Many of the goals of LIFE can be achieved by deploying ‘nudges’, gentle persuasion techniques to encourage positive behaviour. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) employs proven nudging techniques such as discouraging food waste by offering smaller plates in cafeterias; encouraging recycling by making bin lids eye-catching; and encouraging cycling by creating cycle paths.
    • Adopting greener consumption habits: According to the UNEP, more than two-thirds of greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to household consumption and lifestyles the urgent cuts to global emissions we need can only be achieved through widespread adoption of greener consumption habits.

    World

    How India could be the torch bearer?

    • Historical wisdom: “Vasudhaiv kutumbakam” which means the world is one family, India insists on this philosophy. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “the world has enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed.” Even The Prime Minister recalled that Mahatma Gandhi talked about a zero-carbon lifestyle.
    • India’s proven track record of mass movements: India has a proven track record translating the aspirations of national missions into whole-of-society efforts. The success of the Swachh Bharat Mission, which mobilised individuals and communities across socio-economic strata to become drivers of collective good health and sanitation is an example.
    • India is strong to uphold Climate Justice: LIFE resonates with the global climate justice India has rightfully called for highlighting enhanced obligations those in developed countries bear, to support climate adaptation and mitigation for those most affected, yet least responsible. The average carbon footprint of a person in high income country is more than 80 times higher than that of a person in a least developed country. It is common sense and only fair to call on the developed world to shoulder a proportionate share of this transition.
    • Indi’s leadership on climate action at the international stage: From the Panchamrit targets announced by Mr. Modi at COP26, to support for the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and South-South cooperation platforms, from the world’s fifth largest economy with vibrant businesses making enormous investments in renewables and electric mobility, to a world class public digital tech stack, India brings scale, expertise and legitimacy; a well-positioned founding UN Member State bridging the G20 and G77.
    • India’s COP pavilions setting up an example: India has been setting up its pavilions at COPs since 2015 to showcase its achievements in climate actions. Several think tanks, civil society organizations, industry bodies and private sector organise side events at the India pavilion.

    Conclusion

    • While governments and industry carry the lion’s share of responsibility for responding to the crisis of climate change, we as consumers play a large role in driving unsustainable production methods. With COP27 next month, we should commit to be an active partner of a global network of ‘Pro-Planet People’ (P3), to adopt and promote environmentally friendly lifestyles.

    Mains Question

    Q. In the time of the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss, India shows a path for mitigating the climate crisis through LiFE movement. Discuss.

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  • Gravitational Wave Observations

    Black Hole, Resolving the Mistry

    op-ed snap | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Achievements Of Indians In S&T,Awareness in various sc and tech fields

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: space developments

    Mains level: space developments,black hole, merging of Stars, Energy, Gravitation

    Black Hole

    Context

    • For the very first time, scientists noted that this observation of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave (LIGO) observatories coincided with the measurements made by other telescopes that measured visual and electromagnetic signals.

    What is Black hole?

    • A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light can not get out. The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
    • Because no light can get out, people can’t see black holes. They are invisible. Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes. The special tools can see how stars that are very close to black holes act differently than other stars.

    Black Hole

    What is the background?

    • LIGO Observations: In 2017, astrophysicists observed an unusual feat among the stars. The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave(LIGO)observatories recorded a signal which indicated that two massive and dense stellar bodies had merged to form a third body, likely a black hole.
    • Generation gravitational waves: In the process they gave off vibrations that quite literally shook the universe and its very fabric of space time.
    • Neutron stars: Scientists, piecing together evidence from complementary measurements, surmised that the event they had observed was of two neutron stars merging and forming a black hole and, in the process, giving off light.

    Black Hole

    What are the observations through telescopes?

    • The matter moving faster than light: An unusual jet of matter was observed that gave an illusion of travelling faster than light. These were all exciting phenomena observed for the very first time by telescopes and observatories.
    • Confirmation by Hubble Space Telescope: Now, using data that had been recorded by the Global astro metric Interferometer for Astrophysics (GAIA) spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope instruments, scientists have confirmed that the above picture is correct. They have made it more precise and descriptive.
    • Seven times the speed of light: In a paper published in Nature, they describe measuring the “apparent speed” of the jet to be about seven times the speed of light.
    • Lorenz factor: They have also measured more accurately a factor called the Lorenz factor which scales with the actual speed of the particles in the jet. Unlike earlier estimates which placed this factor at about 4, the present paper estimates this factor to be over 40. This is because they measure the speed of the relativistic jet to be close to 0.9997c, where “c” is the speed of light.
    • Clarity about the source as neutron star in block hole generation: This resolves the earlier fuzziness about what the source was and puts the source clearly as massive neutron stars merging to give a black hole and throwing off relativistic jets of particles in the process.

    Black Hole

    Merging of Neutron stars

    • Born out of Supernova explosion: Neutron stars are stellar corpses, left behind after a star has undergone a supernova explosion and reached the end of its lifetime. They are extremely dense, containing more mass than the sun in a sphere that is a few tens of kilometre wide.
    • Produces fast moving material: This has been seen in many active galactic nuclei  galaxy centres that harbour black holes and binary star systems within our galaxy, where one of the stars is a black hole. “Mostly, black holes are responsible for producing such fast moving material

    Why present observations about black Hole are significant?

    • Estimating changing position of sky: The present measurements and observations made with GAIA data are extremely challenging. They amount to measuring the position of an object in sky coordinates. These authors measured a change in sky position one millionth the span of the full moon. Normally, if one were making these measurements from earth-based telescopes, it would require data from radio telescopes spaced apart by intercontinental distances.
    • VLBI technique: This technique is called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and was used in the earlier papers. “Here, the authors could beat VLBI in precision because they calibrated Hubble Space Telescope data with GAIA, which is a precision astrometry mission.
    • It’s an estimate not a measurement: the researchers used both their Hubble Space Telescope and GAIA optical position measurement along with the earlier VLBI position measurement to get a better estimate of the speed of the source and angle (viewing angle) with which it is travelling with respect to us on earth. This estimate requires plugging in equations of the special theory of relativity. “So, it is an estimate as opposed to a measurement.
    • Improvement in estimation: we have learnt that neutron star mergers can result in material moving with speeds as high as 0.9997c.Earlier results using Very Long Baseline Interferometry had pegged this value at about 0.938c. with the new results this lower limit has been improved. Even earlier, with VLBI, it was understood that it was a neutron star merger that produced such ultra-relativistic material. Before the VLBI results, there were several models that could replicate the observations.
    • Explanation using ultra realistic material: The observations could be explained both by ultra-relativistic material and non relativistic material, with some differences in assumptions. That study indicated that the observed gamma ray bursts were produced along with the ultra-relativistic material.

    Conclusion

    • Current discovery strengthens the hypothesis that such neutron star mergers are responsible for a class of gamma ray bursts. Gamma ray bursts are flashes of extreme gamma ray photons that release a huge amount of energy nearly 1047 They come from different galaxies in the universe and are observed here quite frequently.

    Mains Question

    Q. What is the neutron star and how the merger of two stars produces a black hole? How LIGO and Hubble space telescope are useful in demystifying the black Hole phenomenon?

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  • Foreign Policy Watch: India-United States

    Fateful Triangle China,USA and India and Changing World Order

    op-ed snap | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: NA

    Mains level: International relations.India-china, India-USA

    China

    Context

    • America’s national security strategy issued by the Joe Biden Administration last week and the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress this week promise to reshape the geopolitics of Asia and the Indo-Pacific.

    Historical background of USA-CHINA

    • Context of World War II: Asia has seen multiple phases in the US-China relationship. In the second half of the 19th century, American missionaries began to arrive in China and began to generate empathy for the nation. During World War II, Washington backed Chinese nationalists in their fight against Japanese occupation.
    • US efforts to isolation China: The US tried to isolate China from 1949 when the communists prevailed over the nationalists.
    • Cooperation to counter Soviet: The 1970’s saw the US and communist China come together to counter the Soviet Union.
    • Multiple Economic engagement: The 1980s saw the beginning of an economic engagement that turned into a huge commercial and technological partnership from the 1990s.

    China

    What is the USA’s assumption and China’s ambition?

    • China as responsible stakeholder: The US establishment dismissed the idea of China as potential threat and bet that Beijing could become a “responsible stakeholder” in the world order.
    • Democratization of Chinese society is inevitable: America also believed that China’s growing economic prosperity would inevitably lead to greater democratisation of its society.
    • Visible decline of west: China, however, has steadily moved in the other direction, especially under Xi, who has convinced himself that the West is in terminal decline.
    • China’s ambition to change the world order: Xi is determined to seize this moment to reshape the Asian as well as the global order to suit Chinese interests. At the same time, China has become increasingly repressive at home.
    • Explicit expression of ambition: Xi made no effort to hide China’s new geopolitical ambition nor has he been defensive about his authoritarian rule. This, in turn, bestirred the US into rethinking its China policy in the second decade of the 21st century.

    China

    How China is asserting itself?

    • Asserting own version of Global order: Beijing, argues that recent history points to the superiority of the Chinese system over the Western one. And it offers its own versions of a global order – economic, political and social. Since the end of the Cold War, ideological arguments had receded into the background but are now back in significant play.
    • China offering model Economic Globalization: China continues to sing praises of the model of economic globalisation that has facilitated Beijing’s rise over the last four decades. But under Xi, China has emphasised the importance of self-reliance in the name of a “dual circulation strategy”.
    • Leveraging world’s dependence for strategic gain: At the same time, Beijing has sought to enhance the world’s dependence on its economy and leverage it for strategic benefit. The profound political backlash against trade and economic cooperation with China in the US led to the questioning of economic globalisation in the Trump years.
    • China building the powerful military: As China became a richer country, it also focused on building a powerful army. Using both the instruments of hard power, China under Xi has actively sought to undermine US alliances in Asia and mount pressure on American forward military presence in Asia.

    China

    How USA’s policy is changing towards China?

    • Structured policy of rivalry: The traditional soft attitude to China yielded to a more confrontational approach during the Donald Trump presidency. Joe Biden has developed that into a more structured policy of competing with China.
    • Combine challenge of China and Russia: The National Security Strategy of the Trump administration postulated the return of great power rivalry and the need to respond to the challenges presented by Russia and China. Biden’s NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY builds on that proposition and identifies China as the more demanding challenge than Russia, despite Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.
    • China is more capable than Russia: In his foreword to the National security strategy, Biden says “Russia poses an immediate threat to the free and open international system, recklessly flouting the basic laws of the international order today, as its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has shown.” He names China, on the other hand, as “the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to advance that objective”. While the European challenge is real, the Biden Administration now sees the Indo-Pacific as the principal strategic theatre.
    • Projecting China as autocracy against the democracy: The US has sought to locate the conflict with China (and Russia) as a fundamental struggle between “democracies and autocracies”. Recognising the limited enthusiasm for the framing in Asia, the National security strategy now talks of broadening the coalition to include countries that may not be democratic. Beijing, on the other hand, argues that recent history points to the superiority of the Chinese system over the Western one.
    • Building the bilateral alliances: The US is now pushing back. The principal instrument in the US response has been rebuilding the traditional bilateral alliances with Japan and Australia as well as constructing new partnerships with countries like India and developing new regional coalitions.

    India’s role in shaping the world order

    • Convergence of National interest wit USA: Today, Indian and American policies are converging. For both Delhi and Washington, Beijing presents the main national challenges.
    • Reducing economic dependence on China: On the economic and technological front, both India and the US are trying to reduce their exposure to China.
    • Keeping independent foreign policy: On the geopolitical front, a US plan to look beyond formal alliances suits Delhi, which is wedded to an independent foreign policy.
    • Opportunity for cooperation: It is never easy to translate abstract convergence into concrete policies. The current churn in Asia provides Delhi and Washington with a historic opportunity to build on the new convergences in the areas of trade, technology, and geopolitics.

     Conclusion

    • changing world order will have short term repercussion on economic front for developing country like India. India has a great opportunity to be the rule maker of new global order rather than just a rule follower. World order of 21st century will revolve around the fateful triangle of India, China and USA.

    Mains Question

    Q.Why the present world order is challenged by China? What role India can play as rule maker of new World order?

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  • Waste Management – SWM Rules, EWM Rules, etc

    The solution to the E-waste problem lies in scientific recycling

    op-ed snap | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: E-waste applications and impacts

    Mains level: E-waste problems, and scientific recycling,advantages and disadvantages

    E-wasteContext

    • International E-Waste Day is held on October 14 every year as an opportunity to reflect on the impacts of e-waste. This year’s slogan is ‘Recycle it all, no matter how small!
    • Hoarding of small, unused, dead or broken plug-in and battery-operated products is the focus of this year’s 5th annual International E-Waste Day.

    What is mean by E-Waste?

    • E-waste is a popular, informal name for electronic products nearing the end of their “useful life.”Computers, televisions, VCRs, stereos, copiers, and fax machines are common electronic products. Many of these products can be reused, refurbished, or recycled.

    Why E-waste is important?

    • Highly valuable metals: E-waste is a rich source of metals such as gold, silver, and copper, which can be recovered and brought back into the production cycle. There is significant economic potential in the efficient recovery of valuable materials in e-waste and can provide income-generating opportunities for both individuals and enterprises.
    • No harm if stored safely: It is said that the electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) after their useful life does not cause any harm to health and the environment if it is stored safely in households/stores. If the end of life EEE (e-waste) is opened-up and unscientific methods are used for extraction of precious and semi-precious material from it, then it causes health risks and damage to the environment.

    E-wasteWhy E-waste is hazardous to environment and health?

    • Highly toxic in nature: E-waste can be toxic, is not biodegradable and accumulates in the environment, in the soil, air, water and living things.
    • Adverse effects on health: High levels of contaminants such as lead, mercury, cadmium and arsenic, which can lead to irreversible health effects, including cancers, miscarriages, neurological damage and diminished IQs.etc.
    • Adverse effects on environment: There are problems with toxic materials leaching into the environment. For example, open-air burning and acid baths being used to recover valuable materials from electronic components release toxic materials leaching into the environment.
    • Plastic used in electronics highly Hazardous: Hazardous chemicals such as bromine, antimony and lead are applied to electronics like laptops and music systems as flame retardants. They find their way into food-contact items and other everyday products as the demand for black plastics in consumer products is met partly by sourcing from e-waste.

    According to the study conducted by Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum

    • Non-profit Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum is an international association of 46 e-waste producer responsibility organizations which started the day in 2018.
    • According WEEE studies: Roughly 5.3 billion mobile/smartphones will drop out of use this year.The electronics would reach a height of around 50,000 km if stacked flat and on top of each other. That’s an eighth of the distance to the moon.
    • WEEE Survey:The forum surveys conducted to reveal why so many households and businesses fail to bring in for repair or recycling. The results were consolidated by the United Nations’ Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Sustainable Cycles Programme.
    • Results of WEEE surveys: Of 8,775 European households in six countries, the average household contains 74 e-products. Of 74 average total e-products, 13 are being hoarded. This is the story almost everywhere.The top five hoarded small electronic products were (in order): small electronics and accessories (eg, headphones, remotes), small equipment, small IT equipment (eg, hard drives, routers, keyboards, mice), mobile and smartphones, small food preparation appliances .LED lamps ranked the top of the list of products most likely to be trashed.

    E-wasteWhat is the present status of E-waste in India?

    • Statistics: Approximately 8 lakh tonnes per annum of plastic waste is recycled and 1.67 lakh tonnes per annum is co-processed in Cement Kilns, said the government. There are 468 authorised dismantlers/recyclers in 22 states having a processing capacity of 13.85 lakh tonnes of e-waste in the country.
    • The e-waste management rules: The e-Waste (Management) Rules were notified in 2016 which got amended from time to time. So far, the Environment Ministry has notified 21 types of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) as e-waste
    • No recent studies on the pollution caused by e-waste: In the recent Parliament session, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ashwini Kumar Choubey in his reply to Kerala Rajya Sabha member V Sivadasan (CPM) said no study has been carried out by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to assess the damage caused to the environment by e-waste.

    Current scenario and issues in E-waste recycling

    • Crude and Scrappage: As of today, some 95% of e-waste is managed by the informal sector which operates under inferior working conditions and relies on crude techniques for dismantling and recycling.
    • Infrastructure lacunae: Another important issue is the lack of sufficient metal processing infrastructure which is why recyclers have to export materials to global smelters.
    • Price competencies: As aggregators are mostly informal, they demand up-front cash payments.
    • Bloomed informal network: The informal network is well-established and rests on social capital ties that PROs have yet to establish and are hence insulated from reaching the viable number of aggregators.
    • Policy failure: Policy changes have tried repeatedly to formalize the sector, but issues of implementation persist on the ground.

    E-wasteWay forward

    • Effective design: Since India is highly deficient in precious mineral resources, there is a need for a well-designed, robust and regulated e-waste recovery regime that would generate jobs and wealth.
    • Consumer responsibility: The consumers must responsibly consume the product for its useful life and then weigh between the chances of repair or disposal with utmost consciousness towards the environment.
    • Recyclable products: On the supply side, e-waste can be reduced when producers design electronic products that are safer, and more durable, repairable and recyclable.
    • Reuse: Manufacturers must reuse the recyclable materials and not mine rare elements unnecessarily to meet new production.
    • Commercial recycling: Rather than hoping that informal recyclers become formal it would be more feasible for companies and the state to design programs ensure e-waste easily makes its way to proper recyclers.

    Conclusion

    • Concerted efforts are important to generate a momentum of sustained efforts towards increasing disposal through formal and scientific channels and catalyzing sustainable consumption patterns is the need of the hour.

    Mains Question

    Q.The size and complexity of the e-waste problem are growing at a much quicker rate than the efficacy of strategies to contain it. Discuss the impact of unscientific recycling of E-waste on Environment and human health.

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  • Direct Benefits Transfers

    India’s Direct Benefit Transfer Schemes

    op-ed snap | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Inclusive Growth & Issues,Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: JAM trinity

    Mains level: JAM trinity, financial inclusion and Direct Benefit Transfer

    Transfer

    Context

    • Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lauded India’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme as a “logistical marvel” that has reached hundreds of millions of people and specifically benefitted women, the elderly and farmers. Paolo Mauro, Deputy Director in the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department, praised the role of technological innovation in achieving this feat.

    What is Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT)?

    • With the aim of reforming Government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on 1st January, 2013.
    • DBT Mission was created in the Planning Commission to act as the nodal point for the implementation of the DBT programmes. The Mission was transferred to the Department of Expenditure in July, 2013 and continued to function till 14.9.2015. To give more impetus, DBT Mission and matters related thereto has been placed in Cabinet Secretariat under Secretary (Co-ordination & PG).

    Transfer

    Efforts behind the efficient DBT

    • Mission-mode approach for financial inclusion: Government endeavoured to open bank accounts for all households, expanded Aadhaar to all, and scaled up the coverage of banking and telecom services.
    • Public Finance Management System through Aadhar: It evolved the Public Finance Management System and created the Aadhaar Payment Bridge to enable instant money transfers from the government to people’s bank accounts.
    • Participation of various stakeholders for extensive UPI: The Aadhaar-enabled Payment System and Unified Payment Interface further expanded interoperability and private-sector participation.
    • Directly receiving of subsidies: This approach not only allowed all rural and urban households to be uniquely linked under varied government schemes for receiving subsidies directly into their bank accounts but also transferred money with ease.

    What is the Present status of DBT?

    • The status of JAM trinity (Jan Dhan Aadhar Mobile)
    • By 2022, more than 135 crore Aadhaar’s have been generated,
    • There are 47 crore beneficiaries under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,
    • Mobile subscribers number more than 120 crores.
    • Riding on this network, the DBT programme has reached commanding heights towards achieving the government’s vision of “sabka vikas”.
    • Last mile banking through Bank Mitras: 5 lakh Bank Mitras delivering branchless banking services.
    • DBT applicable to government schemes: Becoming the major plank of the government’s agenda of inclusive growth, it has 318 schemes of 53 central ministries spanning across sectors, welfare goals and the vast geography of the country.

    Transfer

    How benefits are delivered through DBT?

    • DBT in rural areas: In rural Bharat, DBT has allowed the government to provide financial assistance effectively and transparently to farmers with lower transaction costs be it for fertilisers or any of the other schemes including the PM Kisan Samman  Nidhi, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, and PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana  thus becoming the backbone for supporting the growth of the agricultural economy.
    • DBT in urban area: In urban India, the PM Awas Yojana and LPG Pahal scheme successfully use DBT to transfer funds to eligible beneficiaries.
    • Benefits under MGNAREGA: The benefits received under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Public Distribution System drive the rural demand-supply chain.
    • Various assistance programmes: Various scholarship schemes and the National Social Assistance Programme use the DBT architecture to provide social security.
    • Scheme for rehabilitation: DBT under rehabilitation programmes such as the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers opens new frontiers that enable social mobility of all sections of society.
    • DBT as last mile support in Pandemic: The efficacy and robustness of the DBT network were witnessed during the pandemic. It aided the government to reach the last mile and support the most deprived in bearing the brunt of the lockdown. From free rations to nearly 80 crore people under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, fund transfers to all women Jan Dhan account holders and support to small vendors under PM-SVANidhi, DBT helped the vulnerable to withstand the shock of the pandemic.

    Transfer

    What are the reasons for successful DBT schemes?

    • An enabling policy regime: Proactive government initiatives and supportive regulatory administration allowed the private and public sector entities in the financial sector to overcome longstanding challenges of exclusion of a large part of the population.
    • Creation of a dedicated ecosystem: These are essential elements of the pioneering ecosystem created by the government for the aggressive rollout of the ambitious DBT programme, achieving impressive scale in a short span of six years.

    Conclusion

    • Direct Benefit Transfer has transformed the welfare aspect of the governance. Going forward digital and financial literacy, robust grievance redressal, enhancing awareness and an empowering innovation system are some of the aspects that would require continued focus. This would play a vital role for India in meeting the diverse needs of its population and ensuring balanced, equitable and inclusive growth.

    Mains Question

    Q.Enlist the schemes that comes under DBT. How DBT has changed the lives of needy people in urban and rural India?

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  • Indian Missile Program Updates

    Arihant SLBM launch: Enhancing India’s underwater capability

    op-ed snap | Security Issues | Mains Paper 3: Indigenization Of Technology

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: INS Arihant ,SLBM

    Mains level: Security Challenges,Indias naval capability.

    SLBM

    Context

    • On October 14, India joined a select group of nations when it announced the successful launch of an SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missile). The other six nations that have demonstrated similar underwater capability include the five permanent members of the UN Security Council Russia, the UK, France and China. In August 2016, North Korea claimed a successful launch of an SLBM.

    Features of K-15 SLBM

    • The code names K-15 or B-05, is an Indian submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) with a range of 750 kilometres (466 mi) that was designed for retaliatory nuclear strikes. It belongs to the K Missile family and forms a part of India’s nuclear triad.
    • The K-15 is a two-stage submarine-launched ballistic missile which uses a gas booster to eject out of its launch platform and rise up to the surface of water. A solid rocket motor is fired after the missile reaches a fixed altitude. The missile has a range of around 750 kilometres (466 mi).

    SLBM

    About INS Arihant

    • Launched in 2009 and Commissioned in 2016, INS Arihant is India’s first indigenous nuclear powered ballistic missile.
    • It is capable submarine built under the secretive Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project, which was initiated in the 1990s.
    • INS Arihant and its class of submarines are classified as ‘SSBN’, which is the hull classification symbol for nuclear powered ballistic missile carrying submarines.
    • While the Navy operates the vessel, the operations of the SLBMs from the SSBN are under the purview of India’s Strategic Forces Command, which is part of India’s Nuclear Command Authority.

    SLBM

    What is the Significance of SLBM for India?

    • Making India’s strategic profile strong: This achievement is significant in the context of India’s strategic profile. The navy, DRDO and other agencies who have enabled this success should be commended.
    • Enhancing Underwater deterrence: A credible underwater deterrent is perceived as being invulnerable to detection and hence nations with the capacity can deliver a retaliatory second strike this enhances their deterrence capabilities.
    • Showcasing the precision and high accuracy: While the press release is sparse in providing technical details or confirming the range of the SLBM, its assertion that the missile impacted the target area “with very high accuracy” is, nevertheless, instructive.
    • Familiarity and capability with SLMB : The crew of the INS Arihant and the entire HR (human resource) comprising the pyramid from the SFC (strategic forces command) going right up to the national command authority with the Prime Minister at the apex have acquired the necessary proficiency to launch an SLBM should the exigency arise.
    • Demonstration of competence: India can be justifiably proud of having acquired and demonstrated this level of competence, but this achievement needs to be located objectively. An SSBN (a nuclear-propelled submarine armed with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile) is deemed to be the ultimate deterrent and this profile of macro-lethality and zero error credibility is predicated on the robustness of the “boat” and the efficacy of the missile.
    • Validates SSBN programme: The successful user training launch of the SLBM by INS Arihant is significant to prove crew competency and validate the SSBN programme, a key element of India’s nuclear deterrence capability. A robust, survivable and assured retaliatory capability is in keeping with India’s policy to have ‘Credible Minimum Deterrence that underpins its ‘No First Use’ commitment.

    SLBM

    What is the deterrence?

    • Deterrence, military strategy under which one power uses the threat of reprisal effectively to preclude an attack from an adversary power. With the advent of nuclear weapons, the term deterrence largely has been applied to the basic strategy of the nuclear powers and of the major alliance systems.

    How the SLBM will secure deterrence against the enemy?

    • Tackling to rising Chinese capability: It merits recall that China became nuclear weapon capable in 1964 and carried out its first SLBM test (the J-1 with a range of 1700 km) in 1982. Over the years, the PLA Navy had its own techno-strategic challenges with nuclear-propelled submarines and was able to test a 9,000 km missile only in 2018. It is understood that a fully armed Chinese SSBN that would be deemed to be operational to undertake a credible deterrence patrol is scheduled for mid-2025.
    • Nuclear deterrence is necessary: Acquiring the optimum degree of nuclear deterrence is imperative for India, given its distinctive spectrum of security and strategic challenges. India has made slow but steady progress in its missile programme, nuclear weapon capability, the nuclear submarine and more recently the building of an aircraft carrier

    Conclusion

    • India’s restraint in relation to announcements and claims about strategic capability burnishes deterrence in a quiet but effective manner. Walking softly, while wielding a big stick is desirable as a national trait.

    Mains Question

    Q. How the launch of K-15 SLBM will enhance the security dynamics of India? Discuss the India’s underwater capability to maintain deterrence and security at the same time?

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