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Type: Op-ed

  • Farm laws must reflect regional and crop diversities

    The article argues for consideration of the regional variation in the conditions of farmers and their concerns in the context of recently introduced farm laws.

    Argument against diversification

    • In Punjab, Haryana and western UP, minimum support price (MSP)-based agriculture has a logic.
    • Not all regions must diversify.
    • The region has great alluvial soil, good irrigation and almost a century-long tradition of the application of science to agriculture.
    • In south Punjab, with less irrigation, and parts of Haryana not covered by the Indira Gandhi Canal, some diversification to pulses, cotton etc. could work but the solid specialisation in this region remains.

    Issue of middlemen

    • Arhtiyas (middlemen) are important in Indian agricultural markets.
    • They are a part of the supply chain in north-west India.
    • Here they are not like the middlemen elsewhere.
    • They function simply as agents of the procurement agencies.
    • This was done by the past government to reduce overhead costs of procurement.

    Steps need to be taken

    • The e-markets, forwards and farmer-managed companies are not the dominant mode of rural organisations.
    • Agriculture is the one good sector in otherwise dismal year.
    • So, we need to strengthen it, not feed off on its glory, even outside north-west India.
    • We have the largest spread of agricultural markets in the world according to spatial maps.
    • But they are not APMCs.
    • With weak markets (outside of grains) and without first-stage processing and other infrastructure, the farmer knows he is at the mercy of the trader and comes out on the streets when that is not understood.

    Evolution of MSP

    • The MSP played a crucial role in the days of compulsory procurement and zonal restrictions.
    • Each crop had its own report then.
    • Later separate reports were replaced by two reports, one for kharif and another one for rabi, apart from one for sugarcane (an annual crop).
    • The 1982 rabi report stated that relative prices and, in that context, MSP had the role of an intervention mechanism when markets failed, outside the compulsory procurement area.
    • Later, the concept of transport costs and managerial costs became important.

    Way forward

    • The Essential Commodities Act should be ditched.
    • Good laws are good because progress starts with them, but not all laws are good everywhere.
    • A modified version of the laws with a roadmap can be on the agenda — not everywhere, but most places outside the lands of the five rivers.

    Conclusion

    The amended laws should be considered in the context of regional variation in the country and necessary changes should be made to address the concerns of the farmers.

  • In difficult times, Fifteenth Finance Commission rose to the challenge

    The article analyses the various recommendations of the Fifteenth Finance Commission and their impact.

    Unique challenges

    • Many new and unique demands were placed on the 15th Finance Commission.
    • The major challenge being addressing the issue of the 2011 population census evoking a sharp response from the southern states.
    • Other issues include the non-lapsable defence fund and the use of certain parameters for performance incentives.
    • The Commission was also required to perform the task of assessing and projecting the fiscal roadmap for the Union and state amid an uncertain domestic environment due to shortfall in the GST collection, further accentuated in the year 2020 by the global pandemic.

    Key recommendations

    The Commission, in its final report, recommended vertical devolution at 41 per cent, adjusting 1 per cent for the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

    1) Horizontal distribution

    • For horizontal distribution, the commission has tried to harmonise the principles of expenditure needs, equity and performance.
    • This is achieved by the introduction of efficiency criteria of tax and fiscal efforts and by assigning 12.5 per cent weight to demographic performance.
    • Consideration of demographic performance will help in resolving the demographic debate and incentivising states in moving towards the replacement rate of population growth.

    2) Principles governing grant-in-aid

    • Grants are important as they are more directly targeted and equalise the standards of basic social services to some extent.
    • The Commission has recommended a total grant of Rs 10,33,062 crore during 2021-26.
    • Grant is broadly characterised into: (a) revenue deficit grants (b) grants for local governments (c) grants for disaster management (d) sector-specific grants and (e) state-specific grants.
    • Many of these grants are linked with performance-based criteria, thereby promoting principles of transparency, accountability, and leading to better monitoring of expenditures.
    • However, the Commission was asked to examine whether revenue deficit grants should be provided at all to the states.
    • Some states stressed that revenue deficit grants have serious disincentives for tax efforts and prudence in expenditure and, hence, these should be discontinued.
    • Fiscally stressed states of Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab are regular recipients of these grants due to high debt legacy.

    3) Conditional grants to local bodies

    • This Commission’s grant for local government is different from that of its predecessors for the set of entry-level conditions:
    • (a) Constitution of State Finance Commissions.
    • (b) Timely auditing and online availability of accounts for rural local bodies coupled with
    • (c) Notifying consistent growth rate for property tax revenue for urban local bodies.
    • Secondly, the recommendations are in alignment with the national programmes of Swachch Bharat Mission and Jal Jeewan Mission.

    4) Incubation of new cities and urban grants

    • It is for the first time that a Finance Commission has recommended Rs 8,000 crore to states for incubation of new cities, granting Rs 1,000 crore each for eight new cities.
    • The focus of urban grants for million-plus cities is improvement in air quality and meeting the service level benchmark of solid waste management and sanitation.

    5) Grants for health and setting up of disaster mitigation fund

    • The commission recommended channelising the health grant of Rs 70,051 crore through local bodies, addressing the gaps in primary health infrastructure.
    • The Commission’s recommendation for setting up the state and national level Disaster Risk Mitigation Fund (SDRMF), in line with the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, is both well-timed and necessary.
    • For the first time, the Finance Commission has introduced a 10-25 per cent graded cost-sharing basis by the states for the NDRF and NDMF which has not been appreciated by the states.

    6) Non-lapsable fund for defence

    • The Commission has recommended setting up of a dedicated non-lapsable fund, the Modernisation Fund for Defence and Internal Security (MFDIS).
    • Objective of the fund is to bridge the gap between projected budgetary requirements and budget allocation for defence and internal security and to provide greater predictability for enabling critical defence capital expenditure.
    • The fund will have four specific sources: (a) Transfers from the Consolidated Fund of India, (b) disinvestment proceeds of DPSEs, (c) proceeds from the monetisation of surplus defence land and (d) proceeds of receipts from defence land likely to be transferred to state governments and for public projects in the future.
    • The total indicative size of the proposed MFDIS over the period 2021-26 is Rs 2,38,354 crore.
    • The Union government has accepted this recommendation in principle.

    Consider the question “Examine the various principles on which the Fifteenth Finance Commission based the horizontal distribution of states share.”

    Conclusion

    The report starts with the famous quote of Mahatma Gandhi: “The future depends on what we do in the present”. It would be interesting to see the impact of these overarching and revolutionary recommendations in the times ahead.

  • Tax regime change

    Article explains the measures adopted in the Budget 2021-22 for increasing compliance and transparency.

    Maintaining the status quo

    • COVID-19 has upset fiscal maths around the world.
    • It is in this context that the Union budget assumed significance this year.
    • The expectations of tax breaks were rife on the presumption that this could boost economic activity.
    • Whereas others called for a tax on stock market gains.
    • Unyielding to such requests, the budget was based on a pragmatic approach to maintain the status quo.

    Why higher tax rates would not help much

    • Nearly 60 per cent of corporate taxes are paid by the 0.06 per cent of the companies belonging to the top income bracket.
    • On the other hand, among individual taxpayers, only 0.17 per cent report taxable incomes above Rs 25 lakh.
    • Therefore, higher taxes would either yield little revenue or adversely affect economic activity.

    Need to shift focus to compliance and greater transparency

    •  For increasing compliance and transparency, significant proposals have been made:
    • 1) Limited the window for reopening the case to 3 years.
    • 2) The introduction of the requirement for an assessment officer to provide facts on the basis of which he/she re-assesses.
    •  3) The faceless Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT).
    • By making the process of assessment faceless the major causes for litigation are addressed.
    • The limited window of re-opening cases for small taxpayers and due consideration of risk management strategy and the CAG’s observations in carrying out such assessments marks an improvement in the process.

    Dispute resolution mechanism with better interface

    • The Vivad se Vishwas scheme was launched in 2020 to address piling litigation and it is reported that collections under this scheme have been Rs 85,000 crore for 1,10,000 taxpayers.
    • This is a small fraction as compared to the Rs 4.34 lakh crore in corporate taxes and Rs 4.49 lakh crore in income taxes that are locked in dispute.
    • Therefore, a dispute resolution mechanism that allows for better interface between the taxpayer and the department may, in fact, be relatively beneficial.

    Consider the question “Examine the reasons for small tax base in India. Examine the measures adopted in the Budget 2021-22 for increasing compliance and transparency.”

    Conclusion

    The budget estimates suggest that corporate tax and income tax collections are expected to increase by 22 per cent. With an expected growth rate of 14 per cent in nominal GDP, the remaining gains in taxes are presumably expected from higher compliance or realisation of taxes due. Whether this will pan out remains to be seen.

     

  • Protecting freedom in era of technological transformation

    The article discusses the issue of growing influence of social media companies and response of the governments.

    Issues with the growing influence of social media companies

    • In the US the last two general elections in 2016 and 2020 have seen strong charges of political manipulation by social media companies.
    • But influence of social media companies is not limited ot elections, it envelops a range of domestic and international issues.
    • These issuesincludes: the concentration of economic power, individual rights against the state as well as the corporation, disinformation, the rise of digital geopolitics, and global digital governance.

    How governments are responding

    •  Democratic forces need to consult each other and collaborate in developing new norms for managing the digital world.
    • In the US, both the left and right are demanding that digital behemoths like Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter are brought under greater control if not broken up.
    • Last December, the European Commission proposed new rules to promote competition and fairness in digital markets.
    • The EU is likely to approve a Digital Markets Act next year.
    • Australia has decreed that Google must work out an arrangement with Australian newspapers to pay for the use of their content.
    • The current digital giants, however, are not easily amenable to political attack.
    • They are bigger than the biggest we have known.

    3 Issues with business practices of social media companies

    • Governments are now questioning the sharp business practices of the tech giants especially labour rights, taxes and politics.
    • While the tech giants have created a lot of new wealth, some of them have sharply squeezed the labour.
    • In California, trade unions are battling against the success of Uber and Lyft to turn employees into “contract workers” to deny them multiple benefits.
    • Digital giants have been aggressive tax evaders.
    • On the political front recently,Twitter and Facebook shut down President Donald Trump’s accounts.
    • European leaders raised important questions about social media’s actions against Trump.

    Way forward

    • Answer to deal with social media on political front lies in laying down a clear set of obligations and responsibilities for the digital giants.
    • This move will help in building digital sovereignty.
    • The world’s democracies must get together to discuss global digital governance.

    Consider the question “What are the challenges posed by the growing influence of social media companies in the democratic countries?” 

    Conclusion

    As governments push back against big tech, a new challenge presents itself — reining in the growing power of the state in the digital age. The answer lies in democracies modernising their laws to protect freedoms in the era of technological transformation.

  • Finance Commission dips into states’ share for Centre’s expenditure

    The article analyses the recommendations of fifteenth Finance Commission and their implications for the federalism in India.

    Major recommendations accepted by the government

    • Report of the fifteenth Finance Commission (XVFC) was laid before the Parliament.
    • The finance minister announced the acceptance of its recommendation of retaining the share of states in central taxes at 42 per cent.
    • She also stated that on its recommendation revenue deficit grants of Rs 1.18 lakh crore to the states have been provided for in the budget.
    • Some of the recommendations, however, have far-reaching implications on government finances, both of the Centre and the states.
    • Keeping in view the extant strategic requirements for national defence in a global context, XVFC has, in its approach, recalibrated the relative shares of the Union and the states in gross revenues receipts.

    Issues with the recalibration for national defence

    • Recalibration enables the Union to set aside resources for special funding on defence.
    • The states have been made to pay Rs 7,000 crore to bridge [the] Centre’s gap between projected budgetary requirements and budget allocation for defence and internal security defence.
    • But this is an expenditure that the Centre is obliged to fund.
    • For the first time, a finance commission has carved out resources meant for distributable statutory grants and dipped into the states’ revenue share, as against the tax share, in order to finance the Centre’s exclusive expenditure obligation.
    • What has been done is not in line with the system envisaged in the Constitution.
    • This move will eventually put the fiscal federal system under systemic strain.
    • In operational terms, too, this move is a significant departure.
    • So far, the Centre has been used to pre-empting resources from the kitty to be distributed among the states but only to finance expenditures in areas earmarked for states.
    • This was done through the centrally-sponsored schemes, but at least the states’ money was being used in the states, even if on a discretionary rather than a criteria basis.
    • Now, with this move of earmarking and financing of funds for sectors, it is the states’ money that is being used to finance the Centre’s expenditure.
    • This is certainly not cooperative federalism.

    Changes in horizontal distribution: More weightage to efficiency and performance

    • In horizontal distribution, the criteria used by successive finance commissions for devolving taxes across states have always been linked to need — based on equity, tempered by efficiency.
    • From 92.5 per cent of funds to a state being devolved based on need and equity, the XVFC has reduced these two components to 75 per cent.
    • The remaining 25 per cent are to be devolved on considerations of efficiency and performance.
    • This is the lowest weightage for equity, making the XVFC transfers potentially the least progressive ever.

    Structural changes not taken into account

    • The Finance Commission has not even made any serious effort to review the existing scheme of transfers in light of the changed federal landscape.
    • The existing criteria for the devolution have evolved in, and for, a production-based tax system.
    • The XVFC should have reformulated the distributional criteria for a consumption-based tax system [GST].
    • The structural change from production to consumption will make a significant difference to distribution as well as the need, nature and distribution of equalising grants.
    • This is the same manner in which the revenue deficit grants have been carried forward.
    • Ideally, the “gap-filling” approach should have been redesigned in light of the compensation law providing a minimum-guaranteed revenue of 14 per cent to every state.

    Consider the question “For the first time, a finance commission has carved out resources meant for distributable statutory grants and dipped into the states’ revenue share, as against the tax share, in order to finance the Centre’s exclusive expenditure obligation. What are the issues with this move?”

    Conclusion

    The Fifteenth Finance Commission report is not aligned with the new landscape of federalism and does not address the key issues.

  • Farm lessons from China, Israel

    China and Israel offer two important lessons for India to transform its agriculture: agri-market reforms and water accounting.

    Lessons from Israel and China

    • India, China and Israel — started off their new political journey in late 1940s, but today China’s per capita income in dollar terms is almost five times that of India, and Israel’s almost 20 times higher than India.
    • China produces three times more agri-output than India from a smaller arable area.
    • China started off its economic reforms in 1978 by taking up agriculture first.
    • It dismantled its commune system of land holdings and liberated agri-markets that allowed farmers to get much higher prices.
    • As a result, in 1978-84, farmers’ incomes in China increased by almost 14 per cent per annum, more than doubling in six years.
    • Israel cultivates high-value crops for exports (citrus fruits, dates, olives) by using every drop of water and recycling urban waste water for agriculture, by de-salinisation of sea waters.
    • Water accounting in Israel is something exemplary.

    Need for agri-reform in India

    • The average holding size in China was just 0.9 ha in 2016-18, smaller than India’s 1.08 ha in 2015-16.
    • So there is no doubt that small holders can do wonders, if they are given the right incentives, good infrastructure and research support, and the right institutional framework to operate.
    • In India, the 1991 reforms did not include agriculture.
    • Indian agri-food policies remained more consumer-oriented with a view to protect the poor.
    • Export controls, stocking limits on traders, movement restrictions, etc all continued at the hint of any price rise.
    • The net result of all this was farmers’ incomes remained low and so did those of landless agri-labourers.

    Way forward

    • India needs to change its policy framework from being subsidy-led to investment-driven, from being consumer-oriented to producer-oriented, and from being supply-oriented to demand-driven by linking farms with factories and foreign markets, and, finally, from being business as usual to an innovations-centred system.
    • Until India breaks away from the policy of free power for agriculture, there would be no incentive for farmers to save water.
    • In a state like Punjab where almost 80 per cent of blocks are over-exploited or critical, meaning the withdrawal of water is much more than the recharge.
    • Highly subsidised urea and open-ended procurement have become a deadly cocktail that are eating away the natural wealth of Punjab.
    • Out-of-box thinking is needed to break this regressive cycle for a brighter future for Punjab, for our own children.

    Consider the question “What are the implications of subsidy oriented policies for Indian agriculture.”

    Conclusion

    Lessons from China and Israel suggest that India need reform in agri-food policies and water accounting to address several issues plaguing agriculture.

  • Sharpening educational divide

    The article highlights the issue of the decrease in allocation for education and two ways in which the government seeks to plug this gap.

    Decrease in allocation to education: Two paradoxical axes

    • The government allocated Rs 6,000 crore less on education in Budget 2021 as compared to last year.
    • It’s strange that this year’s budget makes no reference to the pandemic and the multiple challenges it has thrown up for the poor.
    • Parents who depend on the lowest rung of free government schools are the ones who need maximum state support.
    • More recently, the state’s position with regard to the provision of education in general and budgetary allocations to education in particular hinges on two paradoxical axes.

    1) Supporting community volunteer

    • On one axis, is its appreciation of the commitment and passion of the community volunteers to reach out to children who may not be learning for multiple reasons.
    • Acknowledging the contribution of such people, the NEP proposes ideas of “peer-tutoring and trained volunteers” to support teachers to impart foundational literacy and numeracy skills to children in need of such skills.
    • While such efforts need to be applauded, they cannot be regarded as substitutes of the formal state apparatus.
    • Such a view also de-legitimises the teaching profession-associated qualifications and the training mandated by the state for people to become teachers.
    • Salaries and working conditions of the local community, most of whom are unemployed youth and women, are often compromised.
    • This is exploitation and needless to say, it also impacts the quality of education for the poor.

    2) Public-Private partnership and issues with it

    • On the second axis, is the position advocating partnerships between public and private bodies.
    • Not that the involvement of private individuals/organisations/schools in education is anything new in India.
    • However, in the past, private schools catered to the relatively better-off but now the poor are being targeted for profit.
    • This narrative is based on two sources: Poor learning outcomes of children, particularly those studying in government schools as reported by large scale assessment surveys, and large-scale absenteeism/dereliction of duty on the part of government school teachers.
    • Reasons for these are attributed to government school teachers having no accountability.
    • NEP 2020 also states that the non-governmental philanthropic organisations will be supported to build schools and alternative models of education will be encouraged by making their requirements for schools as mandated in the RTE less restrictive.
    • This is clearly problematic but convenient as the justification underlying this position is that one needs to shift focus from inputs to outputs.
    • This also indicate that schools can do with lesser financial resources, and compromised inputs may not necessarily lead to compromised outputs.
    • The nature of the partnership between public and private has also changed from the private supporting the public to private jostling for space with the public, even replacing them.
    • It’s a win-win situation for both — the state gets to spend less and private players make profit.

    Consider the question “Examine the impact of a covid pandemic on the education of the poor. Suggest the measure need to be taken by the government to mitigate the impact.”

    Conclusion

    While money may not ensure quality education, lack of adequate resources will only deepen the social divide between people.

  • Cost of development in the fragile mountains

    The article explains the relationship between development activities in Uttarakhand and the devastating floods.

    Cause of recent flash flood in Uttarakhand

    • According to Planet Labs, ice along with frozen mud and rocks fell down from a high mountain inside the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, from a height of 5,600 m to 3,300 m.
    • This created an artificial lake within the sanctuary in Rontigad, a tributary of Rishi Ganga.
    • Within eight hours, this lake burst open and its water, laden with mud and stones, rushed through the Rishi Ganga gorge which opens near Reni.
    • Studies say that the current winter season has seen little rain and snow, with temperatures being highest in the last six decades.
    •  So, the effects of chemical weathering were much more active in the higher Himalayas.
    •  There is a possibility of more such events this year.

    Factors responsible

    1) Development with no regard for the environment

    • As a mountain system, the Himalayas have had earthquakes, avalanches, landslides, soil erosion, forest fires and floods, and these are its natural expressions, parts of its being.
    • Except for earthquakes, humans have directly contributed towards aggravating all the other phenomena.
    • The Ravi Chopra committee formed by the SC recommended closure of all the 24 hydro projects in question by Wildlife Institute of India.
    • The SC also formed another committee to look at the impact of the Chaardham road project.
    • Road and hydro projects are being operated in the Himalayas with practically no rigorous research on the ecological history of the area, cost-benefit analysis and many other aspects including displacement of communities, destruction of biodiversity, agricultural land, pastures as well as the cultural heritage of the area.

    Dilution of Environmental Impact Assessment rules

    • Earlier, while independent experts carried out the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), today it is assigned to a government agency, which does the work for other government departments.
    • Furthermore, during the lockdown, the government changed the EIA rules and diluted labour laws (most of the workers in both the affected projects belong to unorganised sector) in the name of pandemic measures.

    2) Climate change

    • Another factor which cannot be overlooked is that of climate change.
    • Studies have suggested that the pace of this change is faster in mountains and fastest in the Himalayas.
    • While earthquakes and weathering work at their own pace, climate change can contribute towards altering their natural speed.

    Need for studying the 2013 calamity

    •  We can look back at the terrible calamity of 2013, and see how it washed away the encroachments in river areas-dams, barrages, tunnels, buildings, roads.
    • The communities paid a much heavier price than what they received in compensation.
    • Further, the 2013 calamity has to be studied and understood in all the other regions and river valleys of Uttarakhand, Western Nepal and Himachal.
    • It was not specific to Kedarnath, although much of the focus was directed there.
    • Till date, we don’t have any white paper on this calamity.
    • The India Meteorological Department failed in its prediction and wrongly announced at the end of the first week of June that the monsoon will reach Uttarakhand by June 27-28.
    • It reached on June 16-17 with 300-400 per cent more rain, a record never heard of before.
    •  24 big and small hydro projects were destroyed.
    • The muck created by these projects was also the cause of their destruction.
    • The road debris, always dumped in rivers, was another cause.
    • The smaller rivers were more aggressive in 2013.

    Consider the question “What are the factors responsible for the devastating floods in the Uttarakhand? Suggest the measures for disaster mitigation.”

    Conclusion

    The Himalayas have been giving us life through water, fertile soil, biodiversity, wilderness and a feel of spirituality. We cannot and should not try to control or dictate the Himalayas.

  • Contours of Twitter-government faceoff

    What is the faceoff about

    • Recently, Indian government issued direction to Twitter, ordering it to shut down user accounts connected with farmers’ protests.
    • The government has to exercise powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act to block user accounts critical of the farm bills.
    • The accounts which were sought to be censored are back online.
    • This is due to Twitter’s evident refusal to comply with the directions after a constitutional appraisal.
    • It has, as per press statements, cited the doctrine of proportionality in its defence.

    Concerns with the directive

    • This direction presents a clear breach of fundamental rights but also reveals a complex relationship between the government and large platforms on the understanding of the Constitution of India.
    • The specific legal order issued is secret.
    • This brings into focus the condition of secrecy that is threshold objection to multiple strands of our fundamental rights.
    • It conflicts against the rights of the users who are denied reasons for the censorship.
    • Secrecy also undermines the public’s right to receive information, which is a core component of the fundamental freedom to speech and expression.
    • This is an anti-democratic practice that results in an unchecked growth of irrational censorship but also leads to speculation that fractures trust.
    • The other glaring deficiency is the complete absence of any prior show-cause notice to the actual users of these accounts by the government.
    • This is contrary to the principles of natural justice.
    • This again goes back to the vagueness and the design faults in the process of how directions under Section 69A are issued.

    Constitutionality of Section 69A of IT Act

    • The secrecy clause represents a failure on the part of the Union executive, which framed the process for blocking websites in 2009.
    • he Supreme Court also failed to substantively examine the clause.
    • This is despite the opportunity offered by its celebrated judgment Shreya Singhal v. Union of India, when it struck down Section 66A of the IT Act as unconstitutional.
    • At the same time, the court stated in Shreya Singhal, that an aggrieved party could approach a court for remedy if their website or user account was blocked under Section 69A.
    • More recently, the court, when adjudicating the constitutional permissibility of the telecommunications shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir by its judgment in Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India directed pro-active publication of all orders for internet shutdowns.
    • After this, a decent argument may be made that directions for blocking now need to be made public. 
    • However, several state governments are actively refusing compliance on the publication of orders on internet shutdowns.

    Consider the question “Use of Section 69 of the IT Act to suspend the account of the users on a social media platform has raised concern. Examine these concerns.”

    Conclusion

    The episode leaves a sense of confusion and wonder about why our own government formed under the Constitution may be failing to fulfil its obligations when strangers who trade in our data for profit are seemingly more eager.

  • A resilient future for Uttarakhand

    The article discusses the factors that could explain the cause of the recent flash floods in Uttarakhand and suggest the immediate steps to deal with such disasters.

    What makes Uttarakhand vulnerable

    • Days after a glacier burst in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand caused flash floods, the scientific community is still struggling to understand what triggered the disaster.
    • Uttarakhand is located in the midst of young and unstable mountains and is subject to intense rainfall.
    • For years experts have voiced their fears about an impending disaster due to climate change, rapid and indiscriminate construction activities, and the subsequent ecological destruction in the region.
    • Studies have shown that widespread settlements, farming, cattle grazing and other anthropogenic activities could destroy the natural barriers that control avalanches and floods, thereby enhancing the possibilities of a glacial lake outburst flood.
    • The Hindu Kush Himalaya Assessment Report (2019) had pointed out that one-third of the Hindu Kush Himalaya’s glaciers would melt by 2100 and potentially destabilise the river regime in Asia, even if all the countries in the region fulfilled their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

    Possible causes of the current glacial outburst

    • The current glacier burst was loosely attributed to erosion, a build-up of water pressure, an avalanche of snow or rocks, landslides or an earthquake under the ice.
    • A rock mass, weakened from years of freezing and thawing of snow, may have led to the creation of a weak zone and fractures leading to a collapse that resulted in flash floods.

    Issue of construction activity

    • Experts and activists have incessantly asked for scrutiny into the construction of hydroelectric power projects in Uttarakhand.
    • There have also been allegations about the use of explosives in the construction of dams and other infrastructure.
    • In 2014, an expert committee led by Dr Ravi Chopra, instituted to assess the role of dams in exacerbating floods, provided hard evidence on how haphazard construction of dams was causing irreversible damage to the region.

    7 Immediate steps

    • 1) Investing in resilience planning, especially in flood prevention and rapid response.
    • 2) Climate proofing the infrastructure such as by applying road stabilisation technologies for fragile road networks and strengthening existing structures like bridges, culverts and tunnels.
    • 3) Strengthening embankments with adequate scientific know-how
    • 4) Reassessing development of hydropower and other public infrastructure.
    • 5) Investing in robust monitoring and early warning system.
    • 6) Establishing implementable policies and regulatory guidelines to restrict detrimental human activities, including responsible eco- and religious tourism policies.
    • 7) Investing in training and capacity building to educate and empower local communities to prevent and manage risks effectively.

    Consider the question “What are the factors that make Uttarakhand vulnerable to natural disasters? Suggest the measures to prevent and deal with the disasters” 

    Conclusion

    India needs to urgently rise up to the challenge by applying innovative and inclusive solutions that support nature and marginalised communities, to restore and rebuild a resilient future for Uttarakhand.