Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Heat waves
Mains level: Climate Change induced rising temperatures, Heatwaves, Socio-economic impact and measures
Central Idea
- Heat waves have become a major concern for India this year. The scorching summer heat has started prematurely, as per the recent IMD reports. If the record temperatures of the recent past are any indication, the heat wave is likely to become more intense. Rising temperatures lead to several health problems, from dehydration and heat exhaustion to more severe conditions like heatstroke. They also affect the economy and the environment.
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What is Heat wave?
- A heatwave is a prolonged period of abnormally hot weather.
- Heatwaves usually last for several days or weeks and can occur in both dry and humid climates. They are characterized by temperatures that are significantly higher than the average for a particular region during that time of year.
- This is because climate change is causing a rise in global temperatures. As the planet heats up, it leads to more extreme weather events, such as heat waves. Its geography makes India particularly vulnerable to these events.
Heatwaves in India
- In India Heat waves typically occur from March to June, and in some rare cases, even extend till July.
- On an average, five-six heat wave events occur every year over the northern parts of the country.
- Single events can last weeks, occur consecutively, and can impact large population.
- Its geography makes India particularly vulnerable to these events.
Some of the hottest summers on record in recent years that India has experienced
- In May 2016, Phalodi in Rajasthan registered 51 degrees Celsius, the highest temperature ever recorded in the country.
- In 2021, India saw its hottest day on May 22, with the temperature touching 48 degrees Celsius in Barmer, also in Rajasthan.
- In 2022, Jaipur experienced a severe heatwave. Rajasthan’s capital recorded 45 degrees Celsius in April a record for the city for the month.
- Delhi, Agra, Pilani and Rohtak are among the well-known hot cities in India, where temperatures, of late, have gone up to 43 degrees Celsius in early summer
Link: Climate change and Heat waves
- Rising heat waves: Climate change is directly linked to the increase in the frequency, intensity, and duration of heatwaves around the world.
- More severe and more frequent: As the Earth’s climate continues to warm, heatwaves are becoming more severe and occurring more frequently.
- Global warming: This is because global warming is causing changes in the atmosphere, such as increased greenhouse gas concentrations, which trap heat and cause temperatures to rise.
- For instance: Climate change is also causing heatwaves to last longer. A study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters found that heatwaves are lasting an average of 2.5 days longer than they did in the middle of the 20th century.
- Impact on Health: Heat-related illnesses, such as heat exhaustion and heatstroke, are becoming more common, particularly among vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, and outdoor workers.
- In addition, heat waves can exacerbate existing health problems, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.
- Impact on the environment
- One of the biggest problems is the depletion of water resources:
- Water sources are drying up as temperatures rise, leading to crises in many parts of the country.
- As people try to keep cool, they use more air conditioning, increasing electricity use. This leads to an increase in the use of fossil fuels, which significantly contributes to air pollution.
- Impact on agriculture:
- Impact on environment in turn, leads to agricultural problems, with crops failing and farmers struggling to make a living.
- Given that around 40 per cent of India’s population is engaged in agriculture, this is a significant concern.
- Reports are already coming from Punjab and Western Uttar Pradesh that the early heatwave has affected the growth of wheat crops and is expected to negatively affect the crop to the tune of 20 per cent.
- Impact on growth:
- The healthcare costs associated with heat-related illnesses can be significant, particularly for vulnerable groups who may not have access to affordable healthcare.
- In addition, heat waves can lead to a decrease in worker productivity, which can impact economic growth.
What can be done to deal with such problems?
- Increase public awareness: People need to be educated about the impact of rising temperatures on their health, the environment, and the economy. This can be done through public campaigns, schools, and the media.
- Increase the use of renewable energy: India has already made significant progress in this area. However, much remains to be done. The government could incentivise individuals and businesses to invest in renewable energy, such as solar panels. This would help reduce the impact of rising temperatures, create new jobs, and stimulate economic growth.
- Improving water management: This could include introducing more efficient irrigation systems, better rainwater harvesting, and using recycled water for non-potable purposes. This would help to conserve water resources and reduce the impact of rising temperatures on agriculture.
- Investing in infrastructure that can cope with extreme temperatures: This could include the construction of roads and buildings that are designed to withstand high temperatures, as well as the development of more efficient cooling systems that use less energy.
Conclusion
- The rising heat wave in India is a serious concern that needs to be addressed urgently. The impacts of rising temperatures on human health, the environment, and the economy are significant. However, with the right strategies in place, it is possible to mitigate the impact of rising temperatures and ensure a sustainable future for the country.
Mains Question
Q. Climate change is exacerbating the problem of heat waves. In this backdrop discuss its socioeconomic impact and what measures can be done to tackle this problem?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Sustainable Development Goals
Mains level: India's progress in achieving SDG targets
Central Idea
- A recent analysis published in The Lancet has concluded that India is not on-target to achieve 19 of the 33 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) indicators. The critical off-target indicators include access to basic services, wasting and overweight children, anaemia, child marriage, partner violence, tobacco use, and modern contraceptive use.
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Analysis
- On-Target: Districts that have not met the SDG target by 2021 and have observed a magnitude of improvement between 2016 and 2021 sufficient to meet the target by 2030.
- Off-Target: Districts that have not met the SDG target by 2021 and either observed worsening between 2016 and 2021 or observed an insufficient magnitude of improvement between 2016 and 2021. If these districts continue with either of these trends, they will not meet their targets by 2030.
- Progress in: Indicators shows the progress in reducing adolescent pregnancy, tobacco use in women, multidimensional poverty, teenage sexual violence, and improving electricity access.
- Areas where more efforts are needed: More efforts are needed for reducing anaemia in women, improving access to basic services, providing health insurance for women, and reducing anaemia in pregnant women.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- The SDGs, otherwise known as the Global Goals, are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
- The SDGs were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 with a vision to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. The 17 SDGs came into force with effect from 1st January 2016 as a part of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
- India is one of the signatory countries that has committed to achieving these goals by 2030.
- Though not legally binding, the SDGs have become de facto international obligations and have the potential to reorient domestic spending priorities of the countries during the next fifteen years.
- Countries are expected to take ownership and establish a national framework for achieving these goals.
Targets set for each of the SDGs
- No Poverty: By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day.
- Zero Hunger: By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
- Quality Education: By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.
- Gender Equality: End all forms of discrimination, violence, harmful practices against all women and girls everywhere. Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life.
India’s progress towards achieving SDGs so far
- SDG 1 (No Poverty): India has made significant progress in reducing poverty, with the poverty rate declining from 21.9% in 2011-12 to 4.4% in 2020. The government’s efforts to provide financial inclusion and social protection schemes have contributed to this progress.
- SDG 2 (Zero Hunger): India has made progress in reducing hunger, with the prevalence of undernourishment declining from 17.3% in 2004-06 to 14% in 2017-19. The government’s initiatives such as the National Food Security Act and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana have contributed to this progress.
- SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being): India has made progress in improving maternal and child health, with maternal mortality ratio declining from 167 per 100,000 live births in 2011-13 to 113 in 2016-18. The government’s efforts to strengthen health systems and increase access to healthcare services have contributed to this progress.
- SDG 4 (Quality Education): India has made progress in improving access to education, with the gross enrolment ratio for primary education increasing from 93.4% in 2014-15 to 94.3% in 2019-20. The government’s initiatives such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Right to Education Act have contributed to this progress.
- SDG 5 (Gender Equality): India has made progress in improving gender equality, with the sex ratio at birth increasing from 918 in 2011 to 934 in 2020. The government’s initiatives such as the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and the Maternity Benefit Programme have contributed to this progress.
- Multidimensional poverty declined: At a compounded annual average rate of 4.8 per cent per year in 2005-2011 and more than double that pace at 10.3 per cent a year during 2011-2021.
- Declining child mortality: There are some issues with the 2011 child-mortality data, but for each of the 10 components of the MPI index, the rate of decline in 2011-2021 is considerably faster than in 2005-2011.
- Average decline in overall indicators: The average equally weighted decline for nine indicators was 1.9 per cent per annum in 2005-2011 and a rate of 16.6 per cent per annum, more than eight times higher in 2011-2021.
- Consumption inequality decline: Every single household survey or analysis has shown that consumption inequality declined during 2011-2021. This is consistent with the above finding of highly inclusive growth during 2011-2021.
Conclusion
- The analysis provides a valuable tool for policymakers to address the gaps and focus on the indicators that require more attention, thereby improving the well-being of its citizens and creating a sustainable future for all.
Mains question
Q. What are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Discuss India’s progress made so far in achieving these targets
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Earthquakes, India's earthquake prone regions
Mains level: India's policy on Earthquake preparedness
Central Idea
- The destruction caused by earthquakes in Turkey should be alarming for India. Over the last three weeks, tremors have been felt in Himalayan states. Moreover, geologists have warned of a probable massive earthquake in the Himalayan state. In this context the Delhi High Court asked the state government to file a status report and action plan on the structural safety of buildings in Delhi. Nearly 58 per cent of the Indian landmass is vulnerable to earthquakes and the concerns that have been raised by the court need a policy response instead.
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- According to the theory of plate tectonics, the Earth’s crust and upper mantle are made of large rigid plates that can move relative to one another.
- Slip on faults near the plate boundaries can result in earthquakes.
- The point inside the Earth where the earthquake rupture starts is called the focus or hypocentre.
- The point directly above it on the surface of the Earth is the epicentre.
What is missing in India’s policy on earthquake preparedness?
- Current policy operates primarily at the scale of structural details: Guided by the National Building Codes, this includes specifying dimensions of the structural members columns, beams, etc. and details of the reinforcements that join these elements together.
- While scientifically sound, this view on earthquake preparedness is myopic:
- It ignores the buildings that were constructed before such codes were published in 1962. Such buildings form a large part of our cities.
- It assumes infallibility in the processes of enforcement, relying only on penalisation and illegalities.
- It treats earthquakes as a problem of individual buildings, as if they exist and behave in complete isolation from their urban context.
What needs to be done?
- Preparedness at Building and City Scale through policy: Earthquake preparedness, therefore, needs to act at the scale of building details as well as that of cities. Moreover, we must think about it in the realm of policy and not just legal enforcement.
- Need for Comprehensive Policy: At the scale of building details, we need to create a system of retrofitting existing structures and enforcing seismic codes with more efficiency. While there has been political talk and piecemeal efforts towards retrofitting, we still lack a comprehensive policy.
A policy should include two measures
- Retrofitting Buildings to Seismic Codes:
- To create a system of tax-based or development rights-based incentives for retrofitting one’s building up to seismic codes.
- Such a system of incentives will enable the growth of an industry around retrofitting and will generate a body of well-trained professionals and competent organisations.
- Improving Seismic Code Enforcement:
- By ensuring better enforcement of seismic codes through a similar model. A step forward in this direction was the National Retrofitting Programme launched in 2014.
- Under the programme, the Reserve Bank of India directed banks to deny loans for any building activity that does not meet the standards of earthquake-resistant design.
Case study: Japan
- Japan has invested heavily in technological measures to mitigate the damage from the frequent earthquakes that it experiences.
- Skyscrapers are built with counterweights and other high-tech provisions to minimise the impact of tremors.
- Small houses are built on flexible foundations and public infrastructure is integrated with automated triggers that cut power, gas, and water lines during earthquakes.
- All of this has been a result of cultivating an industry around earthquake mitigation and fostering expertise.
Criteria for an urban-level policy to generate earthquake vulnerability maps
- The percentage of vulnerable structures in the area;
- The availability of evacuation routes and distances from the nearest open ground;
- Density of the urban fabric;
- Location of nearest relief services and the efficiency with which these services can reach affected sites.
- For example: Flood zone mapping is a good example of such an exercise that has proven to be successful in terms of timely evacuation and efficient implementation.
Conclusion
- Governments and policymakers ought to know better than act in a piecemeal manner. Programmes like the ongoing Urban 20 meetings are an excellent opportunity for international knowledge exchange on earthquake preparedness. The Delhi High Court’s directions must act as a reminder for the inclusion of an earthquake preparedness policy in urban renewal programmes such as the Smart Cities Mission. A policy on earthquake preparedness requires a visionary, radical and transformative approach.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: G20
Mains level: India's Multilateralism amidst the global power struggle
Central Idea
- The inability of the G20 finance ministers to agree on a joint statement last week points to an important reality about multilateralism. When great powers are at peace with each other, multilateralism has reasonable chances of success; but when they are at each other’s throats, the room for global cooperation shrinks.
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What is multilateralism?
- Multilateralism is an approach in which multiple countries or parties come together to address and solve common problems, through negotiations and cooperation, while respecting each other’s sovereignty and interests.
- In international relations, multilateralism can take different forms, such as multilateral agreements, treaties, and organizations.
- The United Nations (UN) is an example of a multilateral organization, which brings together almost all countries in the world to promote peace, development, and cooperation.
Multilateralism and Major Powers: From Cooperation to Conflict
- The Cold War and Multilateralism:
- Lack of cooperation during the Cold War, except in a few areas such as nuclear arms control
- The formation of the UN after the Second World War with the expectation of great power cooperation.
- Allies turning into adversaries and sharp division of the world into competing economic and military blocs.
- Post-Cold War Multilateralism:
- Collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to an expansive phase of multilateralism
- Great power cooperation at the UN and creation of the WTO
- The financial crisis of 2008 and the rallying of the top 20 economies to stabilise the global economy.
- Current State of Multilateralism
- World of shared interests among top nations no longer exists
- Simmering political conflict between Russia and the West, possibility of military conflict between the US and China.
- Consensus on key issues eludes the G20 today
- Rising geopolitical conflict mirrored in the economic domain
- Efforts by the US and China to reduce their massive economic exposure to each other
- Economic conflict enveloping emerging technologies, especially in the digital domain.
- Multilateralism and G20: As the current chair of the G20 in 2023, India has to steer the group amidst the renewed rivalry between the major powers. Reducing the impact of the political conflicts on the G20 would be a diplomatic achievement for India.
- Delhi’s Troubled Relationship with Beijing: India is part of the great power rivalry with China. The conflict is not just about military assertiveness but also deep differences on multilateral issues
- Need to Balance China: India cannot stand apart from the great power conflict while representing the Global South at the G20. India has to balance its cooperation and contestation with China in various multilateral forums.
- India’s Participation in Multiple Multilateral Institutions: India’s approach to multilateralism has evolved from a focus on the UN and NAM to participation in multiple institutions including the Quad and the G7. It is also working to strengthen its coalition with the Global South.
Conclusion
- The diversity of India’s multilateralism reflects the structural imperatives of global politics. Delhi must cooperate with adversaries for regional and global problem-solving while wrestling with rivals and collaborating with like-minded countries. Cooperation and contestation balance depend on the issue and context.
Mains Question
Q. What do you understand by Multilateralism? India is continuously expanding its multilateral approach. Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Tobacco consumption, Health and socio economic impact
Central Idea
- The share of smokers is declining in India, but smokeless tobacco consumption continues unabated. Smokeless tobacco use is widespread and is a significant public health challenge. The use of smokeless tobacco in India is deeply ingrained in cultural and traditional practices, making it difficult to address through public health interventions.
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- High Consumption in north eastern states: In the north-eastern States of India, consumption of tobacco among men in both smokable and chewable forms was higher than the rest of India in 2019-21.
- Consumption in southern states is relatively low: In the southern States, the share was relatively low with regard to both forms of tobacco consumption. However, among those who smoked, the share of those who consumed more than five sticks a day was much higher in many southern States. So, while smokers were fewer in the south, those who smoked did so heavily.
- Smokable forms: If only the smokable forms were considered, the share was higher in the northern States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Haryana, J&K U.T. and the eastern State of West Bengal.
- Chewable forms: If only the chewable forms were considered, the share was higher in the east Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha and in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
- Share of cigarette/bidi smokers is coming down: Overall, in India, the share of cigarette/bidi smokers is coming down. Compared to 2005-06, the share of smokers came down by over 10% points in 2019-21.
Why is this trend?
- Increase in prices of smokable forms: According to health economists the reduction in cigarette smoking may be attributed to the increase in the prices of the commodity over time.
- Price of chewable form have not increased: On the other hand, the prices of bidis and other chewable forms have not increased much, and so consumption too has not reduced much.
Why price and taxation of tobacco matters?
- Effective way to reduce consumption: Research from many countries around the world including India shows that a price increase induces people to quit or reduce tobacco use as well as discourages non-users from getting into the habit of tobacco use.
- For example: a study conducted in India found that a 10% increase in the price of tobacco products led to a 6.4% reduction in tobacco consumption among adults.
- Higher prices can also discourage young people from taking up smoking: According to the World Health Organization, increasing tobacco prices by 10% can reduce tobacco use among young people by about 4%. This is particularly important as most tobacco users start smoking during adolescence.
Tobacco consumption: Negative health effects
- Cancer: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable cancer. It can cause cancer of the lungs, mouth, throat, larynx, pancreas, bladder, kidney, and cervix.
- Respiratory diseases: It may cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. It can also worsen asthma symptoms.
- Cardiovascular diseases: Consumption increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. It damages blood vessels and increases the risk of blood clots.
- Reproductive health: Tobacco use can lead to infertility, premature birth, and low birth weight in babies.
Tobacco consumption: Social-Economic Impact
- On an individual level:
- Tobacco consumption can lead to decreased productivity and increased healthcare costs.
- Smoking-related illnesses can result in absenteeism from work, decreased work performance, and increased medical expenses.
- In addition, tobacco consumption can lead to decreased life expectancy, which reduces the overall productive years of an individual.
- On a societal level:
- Tobacco consumption can lead to decreased economic development due to the increased burden of healthcare costs and decreased productivity.
- According to a study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco-related illnesses cost India about $22.4 billion in healthcare costs and lost productivity annually
Conclusion
- Tobacco consumption in India has significant socioeconomic and health impacts, particularly on the poor and marginalized sections of the population. Worryingly, after GST implementation, cigarette prices have not increased much. Increasing the price of tobacco products through taxation is a key strategy for reducing tobacco consumption and its associated health and economic costs.
Mains Question
Q. Tobacco consumption in India has significant socioeconomic and health impacts? Discuss. Do you think increase in price of tobacco commodities reduces its consumption?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Current Account Deficit
Mains level: CAD and deficit financing
Central Idea
- As per the RBI’s quarterly statistics, the current account deficit (CAD) widened to 4.4 per cent of GDP in the second quarter of 2022-23, down from 2.2 per cent in the preceding quarter. This marks a reversal from an unusual surplus of 0.9 per cent of GDP in 2020-21. In the third quarter of this financial year, while the merchandise trade deficit has widened, the CAD may witness a fall.
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What is Current Account Deficit (CAD)?
- Current Account Deficit (CAD) = Trade Deficit + Net Income + Net Transfers
- A current account is a key component of balance of payments, which is the account of transactions or exchanges made between entities in a country and the rest of the world.
- This includes a nation’s net trade in products and services, its net earnings on cross border investments including interest and dividends, and its net transfer payments such as remittances and foreign aid.
- A CAD arises when the value of goods and services imported exceeds the value of exports, while the trade balance refers to the net balance of export and import of goods or merchandise trade.
Components of Current Account
- Trade Deficit
- Trade Deficit = Imports – Exports
- A Country is said to have a trade deficit when it imports more goods and services than it exports.
- Trade deficit is an economic measure of a negative balance of trade in which a country’s imports exceeds its exports.
- A trade deficit represents an outflow of domestic currency to foreign markets.
- Net Income
- Net Income = Income Earned by MNCs from their investments in India.
- When foreign investment income exceeds the savings of the country’s residents, then the country has net income deficit.
- Net income is measured by Payments made to foreigners in the form of dividends of domestic stocks, Interest payments on bonds and Wages paid to foreigners working in the country.
- Net Transfers
- In Net Transfers, foreign residents send back money to their home countries. It also includes government grants to foreigners. It also Includes Remittances, Gifts, Donation etc.
India’s CADs have both desirable and undesirable components
- Desirable:
- A desirable deficit is a natural reflection of rising investment, portfolio choices and the demographics of the country.
- If CADs can be financed by stable capital inflows, such as FDI inflows, they are desirable as they are less prone to capital flight.
- Stable capital flows are desirable as they allow debtor countries, such as India, to utilize and allocate them into sectors that may yield long-term productive gains and foster higher economic growth.
- Undesirable:
- Large and persistent CADs can be undesirable if they reflect bigger problems such as poor export competitiveness and are financed by unstable financing.
- If deficits are financed by volatile capital flows such as portfolio flows, there may be a cause of concern. Portfolio flows are capricious and more susceptible to reversals in case of any global financial shock.
- Dominance of external shocks: Research suggests that the country’s CAD rises when output falls rather than when demand rises, indicating the dominance of external shocks.
- For instance: If oil prices rise, and as oil is an input in the production process, it raises the cost of production and leads to a fall in economic growth. In this case, CADs rise with falling growth due to both the inelasticity of oil import demand as well as its major share in India’s total imports.
Remarks to be Noted
- Remittances and services exports have provided a counter-balance to rising merchandise trade deficits.
- India’s services exports grew at 23.5 per cent in 2021-22.
- While capital flows are pro-cyclical and react negatively to contractionary monetary policy by the Fed, remittances have exhibited remarkable stability.
Challenges and a Way ahead
- The composition of financing is crucial. While FDI inflows were enough to finance the deficit in 2021-22, these inflows have been weak in the current fiscal year.
- Over the medium term, policymakers need to arrest the negative spillovers from the slowdown in global trade on merchandise exports.
- Further rate hikes by the US Fed may lead to capital outflows leading to additional exchange rate market pressures. This could be challenging in the current situation as a weaker currency, coupled with a sticky import basket will lead to imported inflation.
- Policy measures thus must facilitate exports by focusing on structural reforms to improve trade competitiveness, alongside which the government must sign free trade agreements.
Conclusion
- India is currently facing the twin-deficit problem of high fiscal and CADs. While aggressive fiscal consolidation may be undesirable in the face of rising fears about a global slowdown, a comfortable external environment can be maintained by ensuring stable financing, along with using exchange rates as a shock absorber to weather the adverse global economic situation.
Mains Question
Q. Explain the concept of Current account deficit? India’s CAD have both desirable and undesirable components. Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: e-waste
Mains level: e-waste, impact, recycling challenges and management
Central Idea
- The burgeoning problem of managing e-waste is a cross cutting and persisting challenge in an era of rapid urbanisation, digitalisation and population growth. In November 2022, the Ministry of Environment and Forests notified a new set of e-waste rules, which will come into force from April 1, 2023. These rules address some of the critical issues but are silent on others.
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What is e-Waste?
- e-waste refers to electronic waste, which includes any discarded electronic or electrical device, such as computers, mobile phones, televisions, and refrigerators.
- These devices contain hazardous substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that can pose significant environmental and health risks if not disposed of properly.
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): The first set of e-waste Rules was notified in 2011 and came into effect in 2012. An important component of the Rules (2011) was the introduction of EPR. Under EPR compliance, producers are responsible for the safe disposal of electronic and electric products once the consumer discards them.
- Authorization and product stewardship: E-waste rules 2016, which were amended in 2018, were comprehensive and included provisions to promote authorisation and product stewardship. Other categories of stakeholders such Producer Responsibility Organisations (PRO) were also introduced in these rules.
- A digitalized systems approach, introduced in the new rules (2022): Standardizing the e-waste value chain through a common digital portal may ensure transparency and is crucial to reduce the frequency of paper trading or false trail i.e., a practice of falsely revealing 100% collection on paper while collecting and/or weighing scrap to meet targets
e-waste recycling: Analysis
- Two important stages of efficient e-waste recycling:
- 1. Component recovery (adequate and efficient recoveries of rare earth metals in order to reduce dependence on virgin resources) and
- 2. Residual disposal (safe disposal of the leftover residual during e-waste recycling).
- Concern: The rules briefly touch upon the two aspects, but do not clearly state the requirement for ensuring the recovery tangent.
- The new notification does away with PRO and dismantlers: All the responsibility of recycling vests on authorised recyclers; they will have to collect a quantity of waste, recycle them and generate digital certificates through the portal.
- Concern: Fresh challenges might emerge as companies are no longer required to engage with PROs and dismantlers, who partially ensured double verification in terms of quantity and quality of recycling.
- Lack of recognition to informal sector: The new rules for e-waste management in India do not recognize the crucial role played by the informal sector, which handles 95% of e-waste in the country. This lack of recognition may be due to the sector’s “illegality
- Concern: This move could further push e-waste handling into the shadows and make it more difficult to monitor and regulate. This could lead to environmental pollution, health hazards for workers, and inefficient e-waste management.
Impact on Health
- Incineration and leaching: Open incineration and acid leeching often used by informal workers are directly impacting the environment and posing serious health risks, especially to child and maternal health, fertility, lungs, kidney and overall well-being.
- Occupational health hazards: In India, many of these unskilled workers who come from vulnerable and marginalised are oblivious to the fact that that what they know as ‘black plastics’ have far reached occupational health hazards especially when incinerated to extract copper and other precious metals for their market value.
- Exposures to children: This ‘tsunami of e-waste rolling out of the world’, as described in an international forum on chemical treaties, poses several health hazards for women in this sector as they are left exposed to residual toxics elements mostly in their own households and often the presence of children.
- Constant contact with organic pollutants: According to a recent WHO report, a staggering 18 million children, some as young as five, often work alongside their families at e-waste dumpsites every year in low- and middle-income countries. Heavy metals such as lead, as well as persistent organic pollutants (POPs), like dioxins, and flame retardants (PBDEs) released into the environment, have also added to air, soil, and water pollution
Way ahead
- In order to ensure maximum efficiency, the activities of the recyclers must be recorded in the system.
- The authorities should periodically trace the quantity of e-waste that went for recycling vis-à-vis the recovery towards the end.
- Recognising the potential of informal sector in e- waste handling.
- For instance, ‘Karo Sambhav’, a Delhi-based PRO, has integrated informal aggregators in its collection mechanism. Through this initiative, e-waste is entered in a safe and structured system and the informal sector also has an advantage in terms of financial and legal security.
- In order to ensure the efficient implementation of the law, stakeholders must have the right information and intent to safely dispose of e-waste.
- There is need of strengthening reverse logistics, building capacity of stakeholders, improving existing infrastructure, enhancing product designing, rationalising input control and adopting green procurement practices.
- Provide doorstep collection to consumers.
Conclusion
- e-waste recycling and management have become a major environmental challenge in the modern world, as the volume of e-waste generated continues to grow rapidly. Simultaneous efforts needed to increase awareness and improve infrastructure for effective e-waste management. Moreover, robust collection and recycling system and required to meet legislative requirements.
Mains Question
Q. What is e- waste? Discuss the set of e-waste rules in India and suggest what needs to be done for effective e- waste management?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Budget
Mains level: Government capex, debt, investments and social welfare
Central Idea
- The world is indeed looking up to the Indian economy as a bright star, as the finance minister noted in the Budget speech on February 1. In 2020, India accounted for 20.6% of the worldwide population of 15- to 29-year-olds. Which means that in the years ahead, one out of every five workers deployed globally could be an Indian. No doubt, the rest of the world foresees a fortune in India’s young population. But are our policymakers doing enough to realise the possibilities that are unfolding?
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The key proposals in this year’s Union budget are the following
- Increase in capital expenditures for infrastructure: There will be a considerable increase in capital expenditures, for the building of physical infrastructure, mainly in transport, energy and defence. The figures under this head are expected to be higher in 2023-24 compared to the corresponding level in 2022-23 (revised estimates).
- Modest tax revenue: The growth of the tax revenues is going to be modest, the government is nevertheless committed to reducing the fiscal deficit to 5.9% of GDP. That could have been achieved only by reducing the spending on some other sectors
- The axe has fallen on subsidies and social sector expenditures: Compared to its previous year, in 2023-24, the Union government’s expenditure on food subsidy will fall by ₹0.9 trillion (or 90,000 crore), on fertilizer subsidy by ₹0.5 trillion, and on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by ₹0.3 trillion.
- Marginal increase unlikely to make impact: The marginal increases in the allocations on health, education, agriculture and the Angwandi scheme are unlikely to make an impact, after taking into account the effect of inflation.
Public-private complementarities
- Capital spending indicates country’s productive capability: A jump in capital spending by the government, as proposed in the Budget, is a much-needed step to reinvigorate the Indian economy. Investment as a proportion of income or GDP indicates the rate at which a country’s productive capabilities are growing.
- High rates of investment; Fast rates of economic progress: In India, this proportion rose steadily during the mid-2000s and peaked at 42% in 2007, which was even better than China’s record at that point in time. High rates of investment translated into extremely fast rates of economic progress in the country, which lasted until the early 2010s.
- Crowd in Private investments: If the proposed investments by the government come through, and they indeed crowd in private investments as the finance minister has predicted, that can set the stage for a revival of the Indian economy.
Global financial crisis in 2007-08 was a turning point
- China responded with high domestic investment: China responded to the crisis by increasing domestic investment, a large part of which coming from its public sector.
- India restrained its expenditures: In India, the government restrained its expenditures, worrying about the rising fiscal deficits. As public expenditures nosedived, private investors lost confidence as well. Investment as a proportion of GDP was on a steady downward slide
Investing in people is an investment in the future
- Expenditure on social sector: Public expenditures on the social sectors constitute an investment for the future more so for a country with a predominantly young population.
- For instance: The income a destitute mother receives for work through MGNREGA may ensure that her children do not have to go to school with empty stomachs.
- Underinvestment in education: Underinvestment in education and health will undercut India’s chances in a global economy that is increasingly dominated by knowledge. Millions of young people are denied access to affordable education and decent jobs, leading to frustration.
- For instance: In 2022, only 2.6% of the nearly 1.9 million candidates who wrote the NEET managed to secure a seat for MBBS in a government college.
- Government expenditure to boost to supply and demand: Government expenditure on health and education can provide a boost to both the supply and the demand fronts in a knowledge-driven economy, more new jobs as teachers and doctors, especially for women, and a greater supply of younger professionals and skilled workers.
- Contrasting Capital Expenditures with Social Sector Spending: Unlike capital expenditures, which are generally considered productive, subsidies and social sector spending are often labeled as wasteful. It is commonly believed that cutting social sector spending will not harm economic growth; however, this perception is incorrect.
- The Negative Impact of Reducing Social Sector Spending: Cutting social sector spending not only exacerbates existing social inequalities but also dampens the prospects for long-term growth.
- For instance: In India, for example, only 9.8% of workers have access to regular jobs that provide some form of social security. Therefore, measures such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the free provision of food have been a lifeline for millions of poor Indians who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and joblessness.
Unwarranted fears about fiscal deficit
- The Counterproductive Nature of Inflated Fears: Inflated fears about the fiscal deficit and government debt will only be counterproductive in a country possessing vast reserves of untapped human and other resources as India does.
- India’s government debt is held largely by domestic financial institutions does not pose threat: Only a small portion of India’s public debt is owed to external agencies (amounting to 4.2% of GDP in 2022), which does not pose a threat. India’s public debt is held largely by domestic financial institutions, including public sector banks, insurance companies. This is a debt the government owes to the people of this country, whose savings the financial institutions have mobilised.
- For example: Greece and the most recent example of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis was a result of external debt.
- A Virtuous Cycle of Debt: Higher levels of development and incomes will lead to the creation of fresh savings, which can help pay off the debts. Borrowing to feed and educate all of its young citizens will provide asset-poor and socially disadvantaged households the opportunity to pick up qualifications required to enter the new job market.
Conclusion
- For a generation of young Indians, this is, without a doubt, a ‘make or break moment’. without increased public spending on human capabilities, there is little hope for them to escape poverty, lack of skills, and discontent. However, if the government invests in food security, health, and education, India’s young people can thrive and become bright stars that illuminate the world.
Mains question
Q. Without increased public spending on human capabilities, there is little hope for young Indians to escape poverty and discontent. Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Surya Nutan solar cook-stove
Mains level: India Energy week 2023
Central Idea
- The formal launch of the Indian Oil Corporation’s patented solar cook-stove at the India Energy Week 2023 (February 6-8, 2023 in Bengaluru as part of the G-20 calendar of events) by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi must be looked at closely from the point of view of India’s national energy story. While Mr. Modi claimed the stove would soon reach three crore households within the next few years, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri called it a catalyst in accelerating adoption of low-carbon options along with biofuels, electric vehicles, and green hydrogen.
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Salient features of Surya Nutan solar cook-stove
- Indoor solar cooking: Surya Nutan is a Stationary, rechargeable, and always kitchen-connected indoor solar cooking.
- Patented by Indian Oil: This is a patented product designed and developed by Indian Oil R&D Centre, Faridabad.
- Maximum utilization of solar energy: It offers online cooking mode while charging through the Sun which maximizes the system efficiency and ensures high utilization of energy from Sun.
- How it will work?: It collects energy from the sun, converts it into heat through a specially designed heating element, stores thermal energy in a scientifically proven thermal battery and reconverts the energy for use in indoor cooking. The energy captured not just covers day time cooking needs of a family of four but also the night meal.
- Hybrid mode: It works on a Hybrid Mode (i.e. can work on both solar & auxiliary energy source simultaneously) which makes the Surya Nutan a reliable cooking solution for all weather conditions.
- Minimises heat loss: Insulation design of Surya Nutan minimizes radiative and conductive heat losses.
- Surya Nutan is available in three different models: The premium model (Breakfast +Lunch+Dinner) of Surya Nutan can cook all the meals for family of four.
- What will be the cost: Initially, cost of the product is around Rs 12,000 for base model, and Rs. 23,000 for Top Model. However, the cost is expected to reduce substantially with economies of scale. At a price of Rs. 12,000-14,000/- for Top Model, assuming annual consumption of 6-8 LPG cylinders, this product can pay back the buyer in first 1-2 years itself.
- Inbuilt Safety aspects: All the safety aspects required in any indoor appliances are inbuilt in Surya Nutan.
- substitute for fossil fuels: The stove, which entails a one-time procurement cost and has zero maintenance, is being touted as a substitute for fossil fuels. It does not have a traditional battery that needs replacement. Also, the solar panel has a 25-year life.
- Modular system: Surya Nutan is a modular system and can be designed in different sizes as per the requirement.
India’s national energy story
- In 1950s, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) fabricated a solar cooker and state-led hydroelectric power but failed to address rural energy consumption.
- Parallel efforts to improve the traditional stove proved unsuccessful, such as the Hyderabad Engineering Research Laboratories smokeless chulha.
- 1980s government launched improved chulhas program to reduce fuelwood consumption and benefit women’s health/finances with 50% subsidy incentive. But the program failed due to construction, maintenance, and corruption issues. Women still rely on chulha despite hazards.
- Cooking is 80% of rural Indian household’s energy use. 668m people in India use biomass for cooking/lighting, despite LPG scheme success. Fuel price inflation and subsidy withdrawal force women to use chulha with hazards.
- India’s G20 Presidency: India Energy Week 2023 is being organised during India’s G20 Presidency, under the tagline “Growth, Collaboration, Transition”, from 6-8 February 2023 in Bengaluru.
- Opportunity for India: It provided a unique opportunity to showcase India as both an engine of global economic growth and a driver for global consumption, supported by a conducive and investment-friendly environment, and a skilled workforce.
- Opportunity for strategic policy making and knowledge sharing: IEW 2023 was an unprecedented opportunity for regional, international leaders and CEOs to come together for strategic policy making and technical knowledge sharing.
Why In India?
- India is projected to witness the largest increase in energy demand of any country over the next two decades, as its economy continues to grow and create opportunities for its people to fulfil their potential.
- India’s share in global energy consumption will rise from 7% to 14% by 2050
- IEA predicts India will account for 25% of energy demand growth from 2020 to 2040
- India’s oil and gas demand will triple by 2050
- Gas consumption to grow threefold by 2030
- Share of gas in energy mix to rise from 6.3% today to 15% by 2030
Do you know “THE PANCHAMRIT” (The five-nectar-element commitments)?
- Indian Will take its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 GW by 2030.
- Indian will meet 50 % of its energy requirements from renewable energy by 2030.
- India will reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes from now till 2030.
- By 2030, India will reduce the carbon intensity of its economy by less than 45 percent.
- By the year 2070, India will achieve the target of net zero
Conclusion
- Surya Nutan has the potential to transform our energy security situation, as India currently imports 50% of its LPG requirements. It also reduces India’s CO2 emissions drastically and keeps our citizens insulated from the vagaries of the high international fossil fuel prices. India’s energy transition will play a pivotal role in global energy markets. India Energy Week comes at a critical time, with the challenges of energy security and environmental sustainability impacting long-term energy transition and paths towards decarbonisation.
Mains Question
Q. Indian Oil Corporation recently launched the Surya Nutan a solar cook-stove at the India Energy Week 2023. Discuss its salient features and potential benefits for energy security for rural households.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Digital Media Ethics Code
Mains level: OTT governance In India, concerns and measures
Central Idea
- It has been two years since the government issued the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules through which the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) was given the task of regulating content on OTT and online platforms. India’s approach can be termed as a light-touch co-regulation model where there is self-regulation at the industry level and final oversight mechanism at the Ministry level.
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What are OTT Media?
- An over-the-top (OTT) media service is a streaming media service offered directly to viewers via the Internet.
- OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms, the companies that traditionally act as a controller or distributor of such content.
- The term is most synonymous with subscription-based video-on-demand (SVoD) services that offer access to film and television content.
- They are typically accessed via websites on personal computers, as well as via apps on mobile devices (such as smartphones and tablets), digital media players, or televisions with integrated Smart TV platforms.
Digital Media Ethics Code Relating to Digital Media and OTT Platforms
- This Code of Ethics prescribes the guidelines to be followed by OTT platforms and online news and digital media entities.
- Self-Classification of Content: Platforms must self-classify content into five age-based categories and implement parental locks and age verification mechanisms.
- Norms for news: Publishers of news on digital media would be required to observe Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act.
- Self-regulation by the Publisher: Publisher shall appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer based in India who shall be responsible for the redressal of grievances received by it. The officer shall take a decision on every grievance received it within 15 days.
- Self-Regulatory Body: Publishers can have a self-regulatory body headed by a retired judge or eminent person with up to six members. The body must register with the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, monitor publisher compliance with the Code of Ethics, and address grievances not resolved by publishers within 15 days.
- Oversight Mechanism: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting must establish an oversight mechanism and establish an Inter-Departmental Committee to hear grievances.
- Due Diligence to Be Followed By Intermediaries: The Rules prescribe due diligence that must be followed by intermediaries, including social media intermediaries. In case, due diligence is not followed by the intermediary, safe harbour provisions will not apply to them.
- Grievance Redressal Mechanism: The Rules seek to empower the users by mandating the intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for receiving resolving complaints from the users or victims.
- Ensuring Online Safety and Dignity of Users, Especially Women Users: Intermediaries shall remove or disable access within 24 hours of receipt of complaints of contents that erodes individual privacy and dignity.
What are the concerns?
- Low compliance and limited public awareness: OTT Rules require display of contact details for grievance redressal mechanisms and officers, but compliance is low and awareness among public is limited. Though the OTT Rules were notified in 2021, there is little awareness about them among the general public.
- Lack of Transparency in Complaint Redressal Information: In many cases, either the complaint redressal information is not published or published in a manner that makes it difficult for a user to notice easily. In some cases, the details are not included as part of the OTT app interface.
The Singapore Model
- In Singapore, the Infocomm Media Development Authority is the common regulator for different media.
- Aside from instituting a statutory framework and promoting industry self-regulation, its approach to media regulation emphasises on promoting media literacy through public education.
What needs to be done?
- Uniformity: There is a need for uniformity in displaying key information on obligations, timelines, and contact details for grievance redressal.
- Specified rules: Rules should specify manner, text, language, and frequency for display of vital information and mandate industry associations to run campaigns in print and electronic media
- Description in respective languages: Age ratings and content descriptors should be displayed in respective languages of the video, and shown prominently in full-screen mode for a mandatory minimum duration
- Guidelines should be prominent in advertisements: Guidelines should ensure film classification/rating is legible and prominent in advertisements and promos of OTT content in print and electronic media.
Measures to Enhance Transparency and Accountability in OTT Platform Governance
- Periodic Audits by Independent Body: Periodic audits should be undertaken by an independent body to check the existence and effectiveness of access controls, age verification mechanisms, and display of grievance redressal details by each OTT platform.
- Dedicated Umbrella Website: The Ministry could facilitate a dedicated umbrella website for the publication of applicable Rules, content codes, advisories, contact details for complaints/appeals, etc.
- Publish Complaint Details in public domain: Publish detailed complaint descriptions and decisions by OTT providers and self-regulatory bodies in the public domain; providers should upload this information on a dedicated website for transparency.
- IDC Membership to be Broad-Based and Representative: The Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) comprising officer-nominees from various ministries of the Central government and domain experts should be made more broad-based and representative with security of tenure.
- Provision for Disclosure: Provision for the disclosure or publication of an apology/warning/censure on the platform or website should be incorporated in the Rules.
- Financial Penalties: Financial penalties may be imposed on erring entities.
- Common Guidelines for Content Governance: A common set of guidelines for content, classification, age ratings, violations, etc. should be evolved to govern content uniformly across platforms in the era of media convergence.
Conclusion
- India’s OTT regulatory model aims to strike a balance between self-regulation and legal backing, aligning with global trends. The government’s efforts to enhance media literacy and transparency will not only promote effective self-regulation but also empower millions of OTT consumers. These initiatives are crucial for achieving the objective of raising India’s stature at an international level and serving as a model for other nations to emulate.
Mains Question
Q. Despite the launch of Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code there are still concerns over the OTT governance. In this backdrop Discuss what can be done to improve the transparency and safeguarding the its users?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: I2U2
Mains level: I2U2 development its significance for India and potential challenges
Central Idea
- In July 2022, India, Israel, the United States (US), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a hybrid summit announced the establishment of a new minilateral grouping called the I2U2. The four countries envision their alliance as an ad-hoc, informal, issue-specific and geoeconomic initiative.
- Following the Abraham Accords between Israel and the UAE, I2U2 was founded in October 2021 to address marine security, infrastructure, and transportation challenges in the region.
- It was known as the ‘International Forum for Economic Cooperation’at the time. At that time, UAE had referred to the new grouping as the ‘West Asian Quad’.
- As the Accords opened room for increased interactions between Israel and its Gulf neighbours, it has become less difficult for other partners like the US and India to engage with the region through plurilateral forums.
- I2U2 prioritizes economic strengths over political differences, leveraging India’s growing economy, Israel’s technical expertise, UAE’s capital, and USA’s international clout for mutual cooperation.
- I2U2 meetings explore B2B relations and establish I2U2 Business Forum; proposal to form ‘I2U2 Hub’ in UAE as ideation center for forging economic partnerships and sharing profits of intellectual property
Significance of I2U2: Own motivations for joining the grouping
- For India:
- I2U2 bolsters India’s strategic engagement with West Asia and strengthens its robust bilateral relationships with the UAE, Israel, and the US.
- India’s total trade with UAE amounted to US$ 73 billion in 2022, making UAE India’s third largest trading partner. UAE is also India’s second largest export destination and accounts for 40 percent of India’s total trade with the Arab world.
- Israel, is one of India’s top suppliers of defence equipment and a key technology partner in different domains including defence, space, agriculture, and cybersecurity.
- The US is India’s largest trading partner and second-largest foreign investor, with bilateral trade reaching US$ 119 billion in 2022 and investments accounting for 18 percent of total Foreign Direct Investment.
- For Israel:
- From Israel’s perspective, I2U2 is a continuation of the Abraham Accords and presents a new opportunity to build a platform where it can combine its old partners (the US and India) with the new (UAE) through a wider economic and strategic partnership.
- For UAE:
- The Emiratis is of the view that such a grouping, with a focus on complementarities, will help solve global challenges such as those related to security in food, energy, and water.
- The UAE knows these challenges only too well, given its own food and water shortages, with an annual rainfall of only 100mm and importing 85 percent of its food supplies.
- UAE also sees I2U2 as a platform that can serve its interests in strengthening bilateral ties with the other three nations, while placing itself as the bridge between West Asia and South Asia.
- For the United States:
- The grouping is a low-hanging fruit, following the Abraham Accords, through which it can nurture relationships with its allies and partners bilaterally as well as multilaterally, especially in the West Asian region.
- This also helps the US in checking the expanding Chinese footprint in the region, particularly in the fields of investment, innovation, and technology.
- US participation also indicates that it has shed its traditional strategic and security lens and now views the world order in a trans-regional and multilateral way.
What makes this forum different?
- Economic cooperation: The I2U2 is a regional forum focused on economic cooperation, distinguishing it from other forums like the Quad, Negev Forum, and AUKUS.
- Six core sectors for intervention: The I2U2 has identified six core sectors for intervention are water, energy, transportation, space, health, and food security.
- Active role for joint investments: The grouping envisions an active role for private capital and technology, aiming to collaborate on joint investments, resource mobilization, and new initiatives.
- Key global concerns are prioritized: Two key global concerns are being prioritised by the grouping food security and clean energy which have local, trans-regional and long-term dimensions.
Food corridor project
- I2U2’s Food Security Project Addresses Global Hunger Crisis: I2U2 aims to combat global hunger crisis by utilizing member countries’ strengths in finance, technology, agriculture, and knowledge.
- For instance: The project will use Israeli and American technology to establish integrated food parks in the states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, with future expansion planned for other states, including Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra .
- Broader objective is to create alternate supply chains: The broader objective of the initiative is to create alternate supply chains among countries with similar goals, to guarantee food security that is environmentally sustainable
Hybrid renewable energy project
- Renewable Energy Project in Gujarat: I2U2’s second project aims to establish a 300 MW hybrid renewable energy facility in Gujarat with advanced battery storage technology developed through Israeli expertise and Emirati and American investments.
- Strong Interest in UAE-India Partnership for Renewable Energy: UAE-based companies like Masdar are interested in partnering with India to explore renewable energy opportunities, especially with India’s goal of achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.
What are the Potential Challenges?
- Security Interests Could Pose Challenges for I2U2: Individual countries may prioritize their own security interests, which could conflict with those of others.
- For instance: US and Israeli outlook on West Asia is affected by Iranian rivalry, while India and UAE might have a different perspective. While these security considerations have not yet affected the project, the unpredictable situation with Iran could pose a challenge.
- China’s Presence in the Region Raises Concerns: The US and India are wary of China’s expanding presence in the region through trade deals, infrastructure investments, and security cooperation whereas Israel and UAE, have a more positive view of China,
- For instance: UAE upgrading its ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and Israel engaging in defence and technical cooperation with China
- Institutional Bottlenecks Could Hinder I2U2: Institutional bottlenecks could be a potential roadblock for the I2U2 project, as there may be a lack of synergy in the working cultures of business people from the four countries, and accountability mechanisms may be vague.
Way ahead: India’s Stakes
- India’s participation in I2U2 is crucial due to its position as a connector between West Asia and South Asia.
- The initiative can bring investments, innovation and technology to India, boosting its journey to become the world’s third largest economy.
- I2U2 can also support ‘Make in India’ by attracting manufacturing facilities in fields such as AI, fintech, transportation, and space.
- To facilitate cooperation, India can designate nodal officers in its embassies and form a Coordinating Committee with the sherpa.
- I2U2 could also inspire India to establish similar minilateral groupings with its partners in South Asia and Africa.
Conclusion
- As an alternative to the dismal performance of most multilateral institutions, minilaterals like I2U2 provide hope for more effective and mutually beneficial international cooperation. Such platforms can provide a sound framework to explore opportunities, support collective resolution of global challenges, and unlock avenues for greater convergence of interests and actions between countries.
Mains Question
Q. What is I2U2 minilateral forum? Discuss the Significance of I2U2 as the member counties driven by own motivations for joining the grouping. Also note down the potential challenges.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Free trade agreements and its advantages
Central Idea
- With a projected 7 per cent growth for the ongoing year, the Indian economy is set to register the highest growth rate across all the major economies of the world. Moreover, Indian growth story for the years to come will be shaped by the unfolding geoeconomic and geopolitical forces that will sustain its consumption-driven-growth phenomenon, further driving investment and production.
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What is Regional Trade Agreement (RTA)?
- RTA is a treaty between two or more countries in a particular region that aims to reduce or eliminate trade barriers, such as tariffs and quotas, to facilitate increased trade between the member countries.
- RTAs can take various forms, such as Free Trade Agreements, Customs Unions, Common Markets, and Economic Unions.
What is Free Trade Agreement (FTA)?
- FTA is a specific type of RTA that eliminates tariffs and other trade barriers on goods traded between the member countries.
- FTAs may also include provisions on trade in services and investment, but they are primarily focused on reducing tariffs on goods.
- From 2021, there has been a sudden spurt in signing bilateral trade agreements by India.
- The India-Mauritius CECPA in 2021, India-UAE CEPA and Australia-India ECTA in 2022, are some examples.
- Talks on these grounds with the UK and Canada are in advanced stages,
- Serious intentions on inking FTAs with the EU and Israel have also been expressed.
Geoeconomic Implications
- India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA):
- Western QUAD: The India-UAE CEPA strengthens Indian commitment with I2U2 (i.e. Israel, India, UAE and the United States), also referred to as the western QUAD, a regional force convened in October 2021.
- Access to the western neighbours: This agreement provides India an access to the western neighbours that can facilitate the process of negotiating trade agreements in the absence of China.
- Advantage for India-GCC FTA: It puts India a step ahead towards having an India-GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) FTA, thereby ameliorating its relations with the gulf nations.
- Boost to economy: On the economic front, the trade pact is envisioned to almost double bilateral commodity trade by 2027, increase service trade and generate 10 lakh jobs in labour-intensive sectors.
- The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA)
- The Australia-India ECTA boosts Australia-India ties on various fronts, including geopolitical one.
- Once a more comprehensive FTA, i.e. the CECA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement) gets inked between the two nations, various other areas such as services, investments, government procurement and intellectual property will be covered.
- Even within the QUAD, the strong relationship between Australia and India will help in creating an Australia-India niche.
- Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF)
- The IPEF, an economic initiative driven by the Biden administration with a total of fifteen participating member nations, presents the massive potential to ink a regional trade agreement and create a trade bloc without China.
- If that happens, India, being a member, will definitely be a beneficiary.
How FTA’s will lead to Consumption-driven growth?
- FTAs boosting consumption demand, this can happen through two avenues.
- Increase consumption choice: The FTAs will enable cheaper imports of commodities and will increase the consumption choice.
- Multiplier effect on domestic incomes: The second is that the direct multiplier effect of enhanced trade and increased employment will have its multiplier effect on domestic incomes.
- Increase purchasing power: Both the forces combined together will increase the purchasing power of the consumers, and increase consumption demand.
Factors that put India at Competitive Advantage
- India’s demographic dividend: India’s competitive advantage lies with its comparative demographic dividend over China. The under-30 population in India, being about 52 percent, compares favorably with around 40 percent for China, which is going to shrink faster over the next decade. The young population is expected to boost consumption, savings and investments, and will drive consumption-led-growth.
- Low wage and thereby Cost-competitiveness: Second, as per 2019 estimates, the average Indian wage is 10% of that of China, thereby rendering relative cost-competitiveness to the products manufactured in India as compared to China. This is already enticing foreign investment.
- National Infrastructure Pipeline: India’s massive emphasis on physical infrastructure through projects like the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) for FY 2019-25 and transport sector growth will reduce the transaction costs of doing business.
- Reforms in business environment: India has been working extensively to reform its business environment through effective policy practices be it through measures like Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, or bringing about substantial changes in its tax regimes, liberalization of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policies in manufacturing, etc.
- Digital literacy: It entails digital literacy and English language skills. On both counts, the Indian youth is way ahead of China.
- Strong Indian Diplomacy: Indian diplomacy is also playing an important role with trade agreements being used as important instruments of diplomacy. This is true for the UAE, Australia, and the partnerships like QUAD (or even IPEF), and I2U2.
Conclusion
- No doubt, FTAs are emerging as important tools for economic diplomacy for India for deeper levels of engagement with friendly nations. At the same time, the FTAs are two-level games for India. At the international level, it has to negotiate with the concerned nation/s, while at the domestic level it has to negotiate with various contending constituencies. Yet, FTAs’ role as a growth driver through trade and investment cannot be ignored. In addition, with India becoming the most populous nation in the world, surpassing China in January 2023, it presents itself as the largest product and factor market to the global community.
Mains Question
Q. What are FTAs and RTAs? India is enhancing its FTAs and RTAs in recent times. Discuss how it will contribute to the growth of the economy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Russia-Ukraine war, global implications , Food and energy cisis
Central Idea
- To be sure, the Ukraine-Russia conflict has thrown the energy markets into a crisis in several Global South nations. In addition, the supply cuts by edible-oil exporting countries, alongside the rise in fuel prices, have led to a surge in food prices, making food security a primary concern, especially for the vulnerable sections of society. In addition, China’s COVID-19 surge has dampened global economy, especially in BoB.
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How the South Asian neighbourhood is in flux?
- Sri Lanka and Pakistan: Sri Lanka and Pakistan are facing economic headwinds, with the former having gone through a full-blown economic collapse and the latter facing huge external debts, power shortages, and extreme inflation.
- Bangladesh: The IMF sanctioned a precautionary loan of US $4.7 billion to Bangladesh amidst the precarious macroeconomic situation in the country, with high inflation and volatility of the Bangladeshi Taka.
- Myanmar: A post-coup Myanmar sees a shutdown of businesses and a massive spike in unemployment.
- Nepal: Nepal, too, sees widening trade deficits and declining foreign exchange reserves.
How Russia-Ukraine war challenges Food security?
- Russia-Ukraine war and the resulting food crisis: Ukraine and Russia play a significant role in the global food supply chains, further affecting low- and middle-income countries and vulnerable populations already grappling with hunger in the post-pandemic world.
- Wheat suppliers: Since both countries exported more than one-third of the world’s wheat and barley, and about 70 percent of sunflower oil, governments around the world were severely hit as the war stopped exports of around 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain.
- Agricultural commodities exports to Asia have dried up: An estimated 6 million tons of agricultural commodities were exported monthly to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. As of June 2022, this number had dried up to a fifth of its original value.
- Ripple effects on food prices and availability: According to the United Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), global food prices have risen by 20 percent. It further predicts a rise in the undernourished population to be between 7.6 to 13.1 million, because of the conflict situation and its ripple effects on food prices and availability.
Sri Lanka: A case of Food security crisis
- The economic meltdown in Sri Lanka wreaked havoc on the food security of the local population.
- For Sri Lanka, the sudden switch to organic farming in 2021 worsened its trade performance in the agricultural sector.
- The island nation had to import sugar, rice, and various other commodities, including intermediate goods in which the economy had had a previous surplus.
- By 2022, the tea industry, which was a major commodity of exchange, incurred losses of approximately US $425 million, further worsening the economy’s foreign exchange situation.
Energy crisis
- Heavy on energy imports: The data analysis on energy imports shows that all the countries in Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), especially India, Myanmar, and Bhutan, rely heavily on energy imports.
- Fuel dependency makes the region highly vulnerable to external shocks: The trade dependency on fuel is a major curse for the region, making it highly vulnerable to exogenous macroeconomic shocks. The Russia-Ukraine conflict underscores the importance of nations having self-reliance regarding energy.
- Absence of infrastructure and synchronisation in BIMSTEC Grid plan: Despite the BIMSTEC countries having developed a ‘Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation in BIMSTEC’ and also signed a MoU for the establishment of the BIMSTEC Grid Interconnection in August 2018, the absence of required infrastructure and adaptive power market, the lack of synchronisation of the grid system, the lack of financial policies, and other related issues have made progress in energy cooperation slow among the countries in the region.
- Unable to set in motion the transition to renewable energy, alongside heavy dependence on fuel imports, Bangladesh, especially, has been placed in a tough spot concerning energy security.
- The Russia-Ukraine conflict has added more fuel to this fire. With energy prices climbing upwards and subsidy bills increasing, the fiscal balances and current account deficits have been worrisome for Bangladesh’s economy.
- The government had to finally put in place some austerity measures. The domestic prices of diesel, kerosene, octane, and petrol were increased to achieve price parity with its neighbours such as India, China, and Nepal.
Way ahead
- Safeguard against food security crisis: It becomes imperative for regional groupings to set up safeguards against crises where their food security is affected by geopolitical events and domestic macroeconomic threats.
- Food Bank for BIMSTEC: The idea of a food bank for the BIMSTEC countries modelled on the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) Food Bank is a good start as it will aid in stabilising prices.
- India urged to develop regional strategy and promoting millets: Recently, in November 2022, India hosted the second Agriculture Ministerial-level meeting of the BIMSTEC nations, where it urged the member countries to develop a regional strategy for transforming agriculture and promoting millets into the food systems.
- Millets have potential to ameliorate food insecurity: Promotion and intra-regional trade of food items such as millets, where these countries have surplus production, can help ameliorate food insecurity to a large extent.
- Self-reliance in energy: Overdependence on fuel will make the region more vulnerable and affect its financial stability. Therefore, developing a domestic energy market is critical for the region. This can be achieved by accelerating the green transition.
- For instance: FDI from Japanese firms has constantly seen more impacts and spillovers in the Indian economy. If Japanese firms’ economies of scale and their potential in developing different green energy technologies could be fully utilised, it would reduce the regional dependence on China, which is currently the dominant player in the domain of solar energy.
Conclusion
- Regional economies have huge potential to invest in research for green transition technologies and sustainable agriculture which can help them have self-reliant energy and food markets respectively. Led by India, the Bay of Bengal region can lead the way in innovations in renewable forms of energy such as solar and wind.
Mains Question
Q. The South Asian neighbourhood is in flux. Discuss the major challenges and suggest a way ahead.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Ransomware, Recent events of Cyberattacks and malwares
Mains level: Cyberattacks, cyber security infrastructure. Read the attached article
Central Idea
- The past few weeks have highlighted the soft underbelly of our fast-expanding digital networks. Ransomwares have emerged as the most predominant of malicious cyberattacks. Here, the perpetrators demand hefty payments for the release of withheld data. Data show that over 75% of Indian organisations have faced such attacks, with each breach costing an average of ₹35 crore of damage.
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Two recent ransomware attacks
- Ransomware attack on AIIMS: The first was the ransomware attack on the servers of India’s premium institute, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences. Nearly 40 million health records were compromised and it took over two weeks for the systems to be brought online.
- BlackCat breached Solar Industries Ltd.: Soon afterwards, a ransomware gang, BlackCat, breached the parent company of Solar Industries Limited, one of the Ministry of Defence’s ammunition and explosives manufacturers, and extracted over 2 Terabyte of data.
What is mean by Cyber-attack?
- Cyberattacks are unwelcome attempts to steal, expose, alter, disable or destroy information through unauthorized access to computer systems.
- These attacks can target various entities such as governments, businesses, organizations, or individuals, and can have serious consequences such as theft of sensitive information, financial loss, reputational damage, or disruption of critical services.
Who is behind cyberattacks?
- Criminal organizations, state actors and private persons can launch cyberattacks against enterprises. One way to classify cyberattack risks is by outsider versus insider threats.
- Outsider threats: External cyber threats include; Organized criminals or criminal groups Professional hackers, like state-sponsored actors, Amateur hackers, like hacktivists
- Insider threats: Insider threats are users who have authorized and legitimate access to a company’s assets and abuse them either deliberately or accidentally. They include, Employees careless of security policies and procedures, Disgruntled current or former employees, Business partners, clients, contractors or suppliers with system access
Growing vulnerability
- There are malwares that could infect all kinds of computer systems: With the lines between the physical and digital realms blurring rapidly, every critical infrastructure, from transportation, power and banking systems, would become extremely vulnerable to the assaults from hostile state and non-state actors.
- For instance; Cyber capabilities are also playing a pivotal role: As seen in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, where electronic systems in warheads, radars and communication devices have reportedly been rendered ineffective using hacking and GPS jamming.
- Cyber security breaches would only increase: With the introduction of 5G and the arrival of quantum computing, the potency of malicious software, and avenues for digital security breaches would only increase.
- For instance: This year, cybercrimes are expected to cause damage worth an estimated $8 trillion worldwide.
- CERT-In: In 2022, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), which is India’s cybersecurity agency, introduced a set of guidelines for organisations to comply with when connected to the digital realm. This included the mandatory obligation to report cyberattack incidents within hours of identifying them, and designating a pointsperson with domain knowledge to interact with CERT-In.
- Draft Digital Personal Protection Bill, 2022: India’s draft Digital Personal Protection Bill 2022 proposes a penalty of up to ₹500 crore for data breaches.
- Defence Cyber Agency (DCyA): Recently, India’s armed forces created a Defence Cyber Agency, capable of offensive and defensive manoeuvres. All Indian States have their own cyber command and control centres.
- Cybercrime Co-ordination centre: The Indian Cybercrime Co-ordination Centre (I4C) established by the Ministry of Home Affairs, acts as a nodal point in the response against cybercrime by coordinating with state police forces across the country. It also co-ordinates the implementation of mutual legal assistance treaties (MLAT) with other countries.
Have you heard about “Bluebugging”?
- It is a form of hacking that lets attackers access a device through its discoverable Bluetooth connection.
- Once a device or phone is blue-bugged, a hacker can listen to the calls, read and send messages and steal and modify contacts.
- It started out as a threat for laptops with Bluetooth capability. Later hackers used the technique to target mobile phones and other devices.
Limitations In India’s cybersecurity infrastructure
- Lack of tools to identify: Most organisations lack the tools to identify cyberattacks, let alone prevent them.
- Scarcity of cybersecurity professional: India also faces an acute scarcity of cybersecurity professionals. India is projected to have a total workforce of around 3,00,000 people in this sector in contrast to the 1.2 million people in the United States.
- Private sector participation is limited: Most of our organizations are in the private sector, and their participation remains limited in India’s cybersecurity structures.
Global understanding is essential
- International cooperation is critical: With most cyberattacks originating from beyond our borders, international cooperation would be critical to keep our digital space secure. It would also be a cause which would find resonance abroad.
- Cybersecurity treaties: India has already signed cybersecurity treaties, where the countries include the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, South Korea and the European Union.
- Multinational frameworks are there but there is no truly global framework: Even in multinational frameworks such as the Quad and the I2U2 (which India is a member of) there are efforts to enhance cooperation in cyber incident responses, technology collaboration, capacity building, and in the improvement of cyber resilience. Yet, there is no truly global framework, with many operating in silos.
- UNGA established two processes on ICT: The United Nations General Assembly establish two processes on the issues of security in the information and communication technologies (ICT) environment.
- The Open-ended Working Group (OEWG), comprising the entire UN membership, established through a resolution by Russia.
- The other is the resolution by the U.S., on the continuation of the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), comprising 25 countries from all the major regions.
- Differ vastly on many aspects of Internet: The two antagonistic permanent members of the UN Security Council, counted among India’s most important strategic partners, differ vastly on many aspects of the Internet, including openness, restrictions on data flow, and digital sovereignty. Amidst the turbulent current world events, these UN groups would struggle to have effective dialogues.
Conclusion
- The G-20 summit this year in India, which will see participation by all the stakeholders driving the global levers of power, is a rare opportunity to bring together domestic and international engagement groups across the spectrum, and steer the direction of these consultations. India could make an effort to conceptualize a global framework of common minimum acceptance for cybersecurity. This would be one of the most significant contributions made by any nation towards collective security in modern times.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Gross Domestic Expenditure On Research and Development
Mains level: Research and development in India
Central Idea
- India’s research and development (R&D) expenditure-GDP ratio of 0.7% is very low when compared to major economies and is much below the world average of 1.8%. The main reason is the low investment in R&D by the corporate sector.
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- While the corporate sector accounts for about two-thirds of gross domestic expenditure on R&D (GERD) in leading economies, its share in India is just 37%. There is evidence, however, suggesting that India’s GERD data are an underestimate.
- A 2022 infobrief of the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States on Foreign R&D by U.S.-based multinational corporations (MNCs) shows a spend of $9.5 billion (₹649.7 billion) on R&D in India in 2018, which increased to $9.8 billion (₹690.2 billion) in the following year.
- There are MNCs from other leading countries also spending on R&D in India.
- But the latest Research and Development Statistics, published by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in 2020, has provided an estimate of ₹60.9 billion R&D spending in 2017-18 by foreign MNCs, which is only about 10% of what U.S. firms have reported to have spent in India on R&D.
What is Gross Domestic Expenditure On R&D (GERD)?
- Gross domestic spending on R&D is defined as the total expenditure (current and capital) on R&D carried out by all resident companies, research institutes, university and government laboratories, etc., in a country.
- It includes R&D funded from abroad, but excludes domestic funds for R&D performed outside the domestic economy.
- This indicator is measured in USD constant prices using 2015 base year and Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) and as percentage of GDP.
- It is often used as an indicator of a country’s level of innovation and technological progress.
Issues with the current system
- NSTMIS compiles GERD data: The National Science and Technology Management Information System (NSTMIS) of the DST is the agency that compiles GERD statistics in India.
- Challenge is to collect data from private sector: It is easier to gather the information on R&D by the government sector, the higher education sector and public sector enterprises. The challenge lies in collecting data from the private corporate sector.
There are two key factors that make the official R&D estimates grossly inadequate
- The method used for identification of R&D performing firms does not capture all the R&D performing firms.
- NSTIMS uses DSIR and Prowess to identify R&D units: A study found only 11% of 298 firms receiving foreign investment (2004-16) for R&D were registered with DSIR. Prowess covers only 3.5% of currently active registered enterprises in India. Leading enterprises in new technology areas may not be listed in both databases, such as SigTuple Technologies.
- The DSIR list may not have many of the actual R&D performers for two reasons: Firms which consider government incentives as not attractive enough or that are sensitive about sharing critical information with the DSIR may not be inclined to register themselves with the DSIR. 2. It may be difficult for R&D firms in services such as software and R&D services to meet the requirement of having separate infrastructure for R&D to distinguish it from their usual business. In fact, many of the R&D performing enterprises in new technology areas may come under the services category.
- The survey conducted by the NSTMIS is the key source of R&D statistics of India
- Data from Secondary sources works only if firms disclose their R&D spending: If firms don’t respond to the survey, data is collected from secondary sources like annual reports and Prowess. Some firms don’t report R&D spending despite their technology activities, patents and innovators. They may not feel obliged to report accurately to Indian regulatory authorities.
- For instance: A review of the documents submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) by some R&D-oriented firms shows that there are firms which do not report any spending on R&D in spite of their declarations that suggest that they are engaged in activities of technology development, adoption and adaptation.
What is to be done?
- Short term measure: the NSTMIS should use the patents granted data, both in India and the U.S., in addition to its current method to identify R&D performing enterprises.
- Mandatory disclosure: Annual R&D estimates can be prepared from mandatory disclosures that the enterprises are required to make to the MCA.
- Technologies can be employed to ensure compliance and proper reporting: In order to ensure compliance and proper reporting, technologies can be used like in the case of revamped income-tax return forms where various sections are interlinked.
- Spending data should be made an essential component of ESG: Additionally, proper disclosure of information to regulatory agencies, including R&D spending data, should be made an essential component of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) ranking of enterprises.
Conclusion
- Concrete data on R&D spending is crucial as it helps to identify areas needing investment, promotes economic growth, informs policymaking decisions, tracks progress, and evaluates policy effectiveness in promoting innovation and technological development. Transforming India’s R&D statistics to truly reflect the R&D ecosystem calls for short-term and medium-term measures.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Inflation
Mains level: The role of MPC, Inflation, repo rate and its impact
Central Idea
- In its last meeting, held just a few days after the Union budget, the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the RBI had voted to raise the benchmark repo rate by 25 basis points. The MPC noted that calibrated action was warranted to break the persistence in core inflation. This surprise uptick in inflation is likely to complicate the policy choices before the MPC members when it meets next in the first week of April.
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What is Basis points we often hear about?
- A basis point is a unit of measurement used to express changes in interest rates, bond yields, and other financial indicators.
- One basis point is equal to one-hundredth of a percentage point, or 0.01%.
- For example, If the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raises the repo rate by 25 basis points, it means that the interest rate has increased by 0.25%.
What it indicates?
- If the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) keeps raising the repo rate by basis points, it is an indication that the central bank is tightening its monetary policy stance to manage inflationary pressures in the economy.
Back to basics: Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
- Committee of RBI to fix the benchmark policy: The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of the RBI, which is entrusted with the task of fixing the benchmark policy interest rate (repo rate) to contain inflation within the specified target level.
- To bring transparency and accountability: The RBI Act, 1934 was amended by Finance Act (India), 2016 to constitute MPC to bring more transparency and accountability in fixing India’s Monetary Policy.
- Policy is published after discussion: The policy is published after every meeting with each member explaining his opinions.
- Answerable to GOI: The committee is answerable to the Government of India if the inflation exceeds the range prescribed for three consecutive months.
What is Inflation?
- Inflation is an increase in the level of prices of the goods and services that households buy. It is measured as the rate of change of those prices.
- Typically, prices rise over time, but prices can also fall (a situation called deflation).
- Rise in retail inflation: Retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, rose to 6.52 per cent in January, up from 5.72 per cent in December, reversing the declining trend seen in the preceding months.
- Much of the surge was driven by food inflation: The consumer food price index rose to 5.94 per cent, up from 4.19 the month before, driven largely by cereals.
- Price pressure remain across the economy: Inflation remained elevated in clothing and footwear, household goods and services, personal care effects and education, signalling that price pressures remain fairly broad-based across the economy.
RBI’s Upper tolerance limit for inflation
- Highest level of inflation that can be tolerated: The upper tolerance limit for inflation set by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is the highest level of inflation that the RBI will tolerate before taking action to bring inflation back within its target range.
- RBI’s limit: The target range is defined in terms of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation and the RBI has set an upper tolerance limit of 6% and a lower tolerance limit of 2% with a central target of 4%. This means that the RBI aims to keep CPI inflation within the range of 2-6%, with a target of 4%.
- Tools to contain inflation: If inflation exceeds the upper tolerance limit of 6%, the RBI is required to take steps to bring inflation back within the target range. The RBI uses a variety of monetary policy tools to control inflation, including adjusting the policy interest rate, changing reserve requirements for banks, and using open market operations to manage liquidity in the financial system.
Conclusion
- Monetary policy experts Varma and Goyal suggest pausing to observe the impact of previous tightening before taking further action. Despite a cumulative 250 basis point increase, inflation is still expected to remain above the 6% target. The full impact of previous tightening should be considered before making any decisions.
Mains Question
Q. What is upper threshold of the RBI’s inflation targeting framework? Discuss the impact of policy interest rate hikes on the economy.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Tenth Schedule of the Constitution
Mains level: Anti-defection law and the challenges
Central Idea
- On February 17, the Election Commission of India (ECI) allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the party’s Bow and Arrow symbol to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction, in effect recognizing it as the original party founded by Babasaheb Thackeray. Strengthening Anti-defection law becomes relevant again.
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- Division in the party: The political crisis in Maharashtra began last year after a group of 40 of the 55 Sena MLAs walked out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance under the leadership of Mr. Shinde, which caused a division in the party.
- Fight of Name and Symbol: Both the Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde sides staked claim to the party name and symbol, each claiming to represent the real Shiv Sena.
- The ECI said that it had based its decision on a test of majority: It said the group of MLAs supporting the Shinde faction got nearly 76% of the votes polled for the 55 winning Shiv Sena candidates in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, while the Uddhav Thackeray faction got 23.5% of votes.
Exam Spotlight
- The crisis has thrown the spotlight once again on the anti-defection law, whose purpose is to prevent political defections.
What is Anti-defection Law?
- Tenth Schedule: The Anti-Defection Law under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution punishes MPs/ MLAs for defecting from their party by taking away their membership of the legislature.
- Power to the speaker: It gives the Speaker of the legislature the power to decide the outcome of defection proceedings.
- 52nd Amendment Act, 1985: It was added to the Constitution through the Fifty-Second (Amendment) Act, 1985 when Rajiv Gandhi was PM. The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies.
What was the need to have this law then?
- Vies in favour
- Defection was recognized as an evil that needed to be curbed: Defections cause destabilization and lead to governments falling, which can have negative impacts on the country’s political and economic stability.
- Law helps to stabilise party system: The law helps to stabilize party systems by consolidating control of the party leadership instead of relying on ideological cohesion or ownership by constituent legislators.
- Views against it
- Law would curb freedom of opinion of the representatives: Some people thought that the law would curb freedom of speech and affect the free exercise of opinion by the members of the legislature who are elected by the people.
- Undermines the representative system of democracy: The law effectively does away with the representative system of democracy in India by framing democracy as a contest between factions rather than a system of representation and accountability.
- Limiting the ability of legislators: The law consolidates power in the hands of the party leadership, potentially limiting the ability of individual legislators to represent their constituents’ interests.
How the law is faring today?
- Recent events shows that the law needs to be tightened: The kinds of defections which used to take place before the passing of this law are not taking place now. But recent events show that this law needs to be tightened.
- Third paragraph of tenth schedule was deleted: A little tightening was done earlier by doing away with a split, that is, paragraph three of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. It had said, if there is a split in a particular party, and one-third of the legislators move along with the breakaway group, they will not be disqualified. So, split was a defence against disqualification.
- No authoritative interpretation of the law: there is a very disturbing trend, which is to interpret paragraph four (decision on questions as to disqualification on ground of defection) in a particular way, because there is no authoritative declaration of law from the Supreme Court on the exact application of it.
- No timeline fixed for the Speaker: In the 10th Schedule currently, there is no timeline fixed for the Speaker to determine the issue and the purpose of this anti-defection law is defeated.
Conclusion
- People are principal stakeholders in a democracy; parties are merely the institutional intermediaries. Democracy needs stable parties, but controlling legislators removes their representative role. Need of the hour is to fix the loopholes in the system because the continuous cycle of instability adversely affects the people, who are the primary stakeholders in a democracy and suffer the most.
Mains Question
Q. The events of spilt within the political are rising posing a challenge to the Anti defection law In this backdrop discuss the need of Anti defection law?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: 4-day work week, advantages and disadvantages
Central Idea
- Much is being made about the major breakthrough in one of the largest-ever experiments with a four-day workweek in Britain. Sixty-one companies were part of the six-month trial and 56 of them have opted to continue with the program, while 18 have made it permanent. 4 Day Week Global trial, overseen by Autonomy, aimed to improve work-life balance by allowing workers to work four days instead of five with the same salary and workload.
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Advantages of implementing a four-day workweek
- Improved Work-life balance: Having a positive work-life balance can also allow professionals to adopt a better attitude about their work, as they can return to their jobs well-rested. This can help employees remain productive and enthusiastic while working.
- Increased job satisfaction: With more free time, employees may feel more satisfied with their jobs and be more engaged at work.
- Reduced absenteeism and turnover: Offering a four-day workweek could make companies more attractive to potential employees, and employees may be less likely to miss work or leave their jobs if they have a better work-life balance.
- Increased productivity: Some studies have shown that shorter workweeks can actually boost productivity, as employees may be more focused and efficient during their work hours.
- Positive environmental impact: Working four days per week decreases the number of times a professional commute to work. This is helpful to the environment, as most vehicles produce emissions that can harm the environment.
Potential disadvantages
- Limited impact: The benefits of a four-day workweek may be limited in certain industries or job types, such as those that require shift work or have strict deadlines.
- Increased workload: Employees may feel pressure to complete the same amount of work in fewer hours, resulting in an increased workload and potential burnout.
- Reduced productivity: Some employees may find it difficult to maintain focus and productivity over longer workdays. This could lead to a decrease in overall output and quality of work.
- Impact on customer service: If businesses are closed for an extra day each week, it may be more difficult to provide customer service or maintain consistent operating hours.
- Reduced income: With a shorter workweek, employees may see a reduction in their pay, which could be a disadvantage for those who rely on their income to cover living expenses.
Examples of companies/organizations considering a four-day workweek
- Microsoft Japan: In 2019, the tech giant conducted a trial where employees worked a four-day week and saw a 40% increase in productivity.
- Iceland: A number of companies and organizations in Iceland have experimented with shorter workweeks, including the country’s government, which is exploring a four-day workweek for public servants.
- New Zealand: Unilever New Zealand recently announced it would be trialing a four-day workweek for all of its employees, while the country’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has previously spoken in favor of the idea.
- Spain: The government of Spain has proposed a three-year trial of a four-day workweek, with the goal of improving work-life balance and boosting productivity.
- Will require a careful analysis: The feasibility and impact of a four-day workweek in India would depend on various factors such as industry type, workforce demographics, and cultural norms. Implementing a four-day workweek in India would require careful analysis of various factors.
- For instance: With the rise of remote work and the increased focus on work-life balance four day week option could be helpful to enhance productivity with improved work life balance in corporate sector.
- Complex regulations: India’s labour laws and regulations are complex and provide significant protections for workers. Any changes to work arrangements, including a four-day workweek, would need to comply with these laws and ensure that employees’ rights and benefits are protected.
- For example: Any reduction in working hours would need to be accompanied by appropriate compensation and benefits to ensure that employees do not suffer financial losses.
- Specific needs of industries: The feasibility of a four-day workweek would depend on the specific needs of different industries.
- For instance: While some knowledge-based sectors may be well-suited to a four-day workweek, industries that require continuous operations or shift work, such as manufacturing or healthcare, may face significant challenges in implementing a shorter workweek.
Conclusion
- It’s important to carefully consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of a four-day workweek before implementing it in any workplace. The impact may vary depending on the specific work arrangements and the needs of the employees and customers.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: UPI, PayNow link, UPI LITE, etc
Mains level: UPI and Internationalization of Digital Payments architecture
Central Idea
- On Tuesday, the Union government unveiled India’s first cross-border real-time payments systems linkage, with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) connecting with Singapore’s PayNow payment system.
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What is Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
- UPI is India’s mobile-based fast payment system, which facilitates customers to make round-the-clock payments instantly, using a Virtual Payment Address (VPA) created by the customer.
- It eliminates the risk of sharing bank account details by the remitter.
- UPI supports both Person-to-Person (P2P) and Person-to-Merchant (P2M) payments and it also enables a user to send or receive money.
What is PayNow?
- It is a fast payment system in Singapore.
- It enables peer-to-peer funds transfer service, available to retail customers through participating banks and Non-Bank Financial Institutions (NFIs) in Singapore.
- It allows users to send and receive instant funds from one bank or e-wallet account to another in Singapore by using just their mobile number, Singapore National Registration Identity Card (NRIC)/Foreign Identification Number (FIN), or VPA.
Overview: Remarkable success of UPI
- Changed the landscape of electronic payments: The introduction of UPI in 2016-17 led to a dramatic change in the electronic payments landscape of the country.
- Instrumental in dramatic growth of digital payments: Along with the JAM trinity of Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile phones, this payment architecture has been instrumental in facilitating the dramatic growth of digital payments in the country, aided by a conducive regulatory framework.
- Value and volume increasing day by day: Over the years, various reports by the RBI have documented the significant increase in digital payments transactions in the country, with per person digital transactions growing both in terms of value and volume.
- Dramatic surge during the pandemic: Contactless payments also witnessed a surge during the pandemic. In fact, as per another study, roughly one-third of households surveyed had transacted digitally for the first time during the lockdown.
- Statistics for instance:
- In January 2023, roughly 8 billion transactions were carried out on the UPI platform, whose value touched almost Rs 13 lakh crore.
- In comparison, in January 2020, just prior to the pandemic, 1.3 billion transactions were routed through the UPI platform, which touched Rs 2.1 lakh crore in value.
- Aided in accelerating financial inclusion: The convenience of real-time transfer of payments, the zero-cost framework for users, the rapid expansion in the acceptance touch-points, have encouraged its widespread adoption. This has also aided in accelerating financial inclusion by providing access to financial services at low cost.
Did you know? “UPI Lite”
- UPI Lite is a on device wallet feature similar to the ones seen on popular digital payment apps such as Paytm, Freecharge, MobiKwik and others.
- The feature will allow you to make faster near real-time small value payments without internet connection via the money added in the wallet.
- In phase one, UPI Lite will process transactions in near offline mode i.e. debit offline and credit online, and at a later point, UPI Lite will process transactions in complete offline mode i.e. debit and credit both offline.
- How is the interlinkage benefit users?
- With this facility, funds held in bank accounts or e-wallets can be transferred to /from India using just the UPI ID, mobile number, or Virtual Payment Address (VPA), which is essentially the address to or through which you can make UPI money transfers.
- With this payment facility, both inward and outward remittances will happen instantly.
- Who can undertake remittance transactions through this facility: Account holders of participating banks and financial institutions in India and Singapore.
- Participating banks in India and Singapore:
- Banks from India are Axis Bank, DBS Bank India, ICICI Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and State Bank of India (SBI). Going forward, the UPI-PayNow interlinkage will cover more banks and financial institutions.
- From Singapore, DBS Bank Singapore and Liquid Group (Non-Bank Financial Institution) are selected.
- Popular payment platforms such as PhonePe and Google Pay have been excluded from the ambit of this framework. Perhaps, over time, these platforms will also be brought under this framework, aiding in its widespread adoption.
- The daily transaction limit:
- Banks in India have not communicated about any restrictions on transfers yet.
- It is Rs 60,000 (around SGD 1,000). Initially, DBS customers can use PayNow-UPI only to transfer funds up to SGD 200 per transaction, capped at SGD 500 per day.
- There is no such communication about capping for transferring funds through Liquid Group (Non-Bank Financial Institution) to India.
Conclusion
- The UPI-PayNow interlinkage is a milestone moment for cross-border transfers. Not only India but the world has witnessed how UPI revolutionized the landscape of domestic digital payment infrastructure. With this encouraging development we are now going to see a similar revolution in the cross-border payments space as well. This internationalization of the digital payments architecture, will help bring down both the cost and the time associated with such transfers, bringing benefits to migrant workers, students, and professionals, among others.
Mains Question
Q. Recently India launched its first cross-border real-time payments systems linkage with Singapore. In this light highlight Discuss remarkable success of UPI and prospect of internationalization of UPI.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: 30×30 pledge, PM-STIAC, PM-PRANAM, MISHTI, Amrit Dharohar scheme
Mains level: Government initiatives for biodiversity conservation
Central Idea
- The sum and variation of our biological wealth, known as biodiversity, is essential to the future of this planet. India currently hosts 17% of the planet’s human population and 17% of the global area in biodiversity hotspots, placing it at the helm to guide the planet in becoming biodiversity champions.
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What is 30×30 pledge?
- The importance of our planet’s biodiversity was strongly articulated at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Montreal, Canada.
- On December 19, 2022, 188 country representatives adopted an agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by conserving 30% of the world’s land and 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, known as the 30×30 pledge.
- Green Growth push in Budget: The Union Budget 2023 mentioned Green Growth as one of the seven priorities or Saptarishis. The emphasis on green growth is welcome news for India’s biological wealth as the country is facing serious losses of natural assets such as soils, land, water, and biodiversity.
- Green India Mission: The National Mission for a Green India aims to increase forest cover on degraded lands and protect existing forested lands.
- Green Credit Programme: The Green Credit Programme has the objective to incentivize environmentally sustainable and responsive actions by companies, individuals and local bodies.
- The MISHTI Program: The Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes (MISHTI) is particularly significant because of the extraordinary importance of mangroves and coastal ecosystems in mitigating climate change.
- PM-PRANAM: The Prime Minister Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth (PM-PRANAM) for reducing inputs of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides is critical for sustaining our agriculture.
- Amrit Dharohar scheme: The Amrit Dharohar scheme is expected to encourage optimal use of wetlands, and enhance biodiversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism opportunities and income generation for local communities. If implemented in letter and spirit, Amrit Dharohar, with its emphasis on sustainability by balancing competing demands, will benefit aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services.
- For instance: The recent intervention by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to stop the draining of Haiderpur, a Ramsar wetland in Uttar Pradesh, to safeguard migratory waterfowl is encouraging.
Programs must be science-based
- Evidence-based implementation: It is critical that these programs respond to the current state of the country’s biodiversity with evidence-based implementation.
- A science-based and inclusive monitoring programme: A science-based and inclusive monitoring programme is critical not only for the success of these efforts but also for documentation and distillation of lessons learnt for replication, nationally as well as globally.
- Employing modern concepts of sustainability: New missions and programmes should effectively use modern concepts of sustainability and valuation of ecosystems that consider ecological, cultural, and sociological aspects of our biological wealth.
- Setting clear boundaries and priorities: With clear system boundaries, prioritisation of the benefits to resource people, and fund-services (rather than stock-flows) as the economic foundation for generating value has enormous potential for multiple sustainable bio-economies.
- Efficient water use patterns: The future of our wetland ecosystems will depend on how we are able to sustain ecological flows through reduction in water use in key sectors such as agriculture by encouraging changes to less-water intensive crops such as millets as well as investments in water recycling in urban areas using a combination of grey and blue-green infrastructure.
- Focus must be on ecological restoration: As far as the Green India Mission is concerned, implementation should focus on ecological restoration rather than tree plantation and choose sites where it can contribute to ecological connectivity in landscapes fragmented by linear infrastructure.
- Choices should be made on evidences of resilience: Choice of species and density should be informed by available knowledge and evidence on resilience under emerging climate change and synergies and trade-offs with respect to hydrologic services.
- Careful site selection for mangrove initiative: Site selection should also be carefully considered for the mangrove initiative with a greater emphasis on diversity of mangrove species with retention of the integrity of coastal mud-flats and salt pans themselves, as they too are important for biodiversity.
- Effort in response: In response to these needs, we hope that the National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Wellbeing (Mission to green India’s economy, restore natural capital, and make India a global leader in applied biodiversity science) already approved by PM-STIAC, will be immediately launched by the government.
Did you know?
Grey and Blue-Green Infrastructure
- Grey infrastructure: It refers to traditional man-made infrastructure, such as buildings, roads, and bridges, that are designed to provide human-made services like transportation, water supply, and waste management.
- Blue-green infrastructure: It is designed to mimic the functions of natural ecosystems, such as wetlands, rivers, and forests, to provide services like stormwater management, water purification, and carbon sequestration.
- Example: It includes, Rainwater harvesting systems that capture rainwater and recharge groundwater, green roofs that provide insulation and absorb rainwater, Urban parks and green spaces that improve air quality and provide habitat for wildlife, Wetlands and retention ponds that filter pollutants and store excess water during floods
- Sustainable and resilient: Blue-green infrastructure is often seen as a more sustainable and resilient alternative to traditional grey infrastructure, as it can help to mitigate the impacts of climate change, reduce urban heat island effects, and enhance the quality of life for urban residents
Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC):
- PM-STIAC is a high-level advisory body that provides strategic guidance on science, technology, and innovation to the Prime Minister of India.
- Advises the Indian Prime Minister on science and technology policy, identifying emerging areas, recommending missions and projects, and enhancing the effectiveness of science and technology to tackle national challenges.
- The council comprises eminent scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs, and policymakers who are appointed by the Prime Minister.
- PM-STIAC also serves as a forum for stakeholders from academia, industry, and government to interact and collaborate on science and technology initiatives.
Local community involvement
- Efforts must be inclusive: Each of these efforts must be inclusive of local and nomadic communities where these initiatives will be implemented.
- Traditional practices should be integrated: Traditional knowledge and practices of these communities should be integrated into the implementation plans.
Conclusion
- Each of the above-mentioned programs has the potential to greatly improve the state of our nation’s biodiversity if their implementation is based on the latest scientific and ecological knowledge.
Mains Question
Q. What is 30×30 pledge? Discuss some of the key programs taken by the government to promote green growth and biodiversity conservation.
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