Context
- In an interview earlier this month, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw spoke about a comprehensive policy roadmap for India’s digital economy and digital governance.
What is digital governance ?
- Electronic governance or e-governance can be defined as the usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the government to provide and facilitate government services, exchange of information, communication transactions and integration of various standalone systems and services.
What is “global digital governance”?
- Global digital governance encompasses the norms, institutions, and standards that shape the regulation around the development and use of these technologies. Digital governance has long-term commercial and political implications.
Why is it important?
- The main objective of e-governance is to provide a friendly, affordable, and efficient interface between a government and its people. It is about ensuring greater transparency, accountability and objectivity, resulting in cost-effective and high-quality public service.
What are the three domains of e-governance?
- E-administration: improving government processes
- E-services: connecting individual citizens with their government
- E-society: building interactions with and within civil society.
Is there a historical parallel to governing key economic sectors globally?
- Digital economy is not unprecedented: Sectors critical to the global economy are subject to international cooperation frameworks and pacts. Therefore, the idea of setting up a single multilateral organization with a mandate to govern the digital economy is not unprecedented.
- The International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN): Global aviation has been regulated since 1903 when the International Commission for Air Navigation (ICAN) first met, subsequently replaced by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in 1947.
- Bank for International Settlements (BIS): Similarly, the modern international banking system is governed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an institution initially set up in the interwar period in 1930 to oversee Germany’s reparations to the Allies under the Treaty of Versailles. The BIS acquired a more global mandate beginning in the 1950s and is now partially responsible for global financial stability.
Who are the key players in the global contest for digital governance?
- China seeks to champion the concept of cyber sovereignty: An authoritarian vision drives the first model. Most notably, China is emerging as the standard-bearer for this model with its desire to “reinvent the internet.” China seeks to champion the concept of “cyber sovereignty,” allowing countries to control access to the internet, censor content, and institute data localization requirements, as a pretext to protecting individual national interests.
- European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR): Which provides a more democratic concept for digital governance. This model primarily seeks to protect the privacy and rights of internet users and online content consumers. Adopted with the overwhelming support of the European Parliament in 2014, the GDPR came into effect in May 2018, giving firms that rely on digital technologies the opportunity to modify their data usage and privacy policies. The adoption of the GDPR has been a turning point for global internet governance as consumers gained unprecedented control over their data in a manner that preserved freedom and openness online.
Why global digital governance is important?
- Minimum rights and protections for platform workers: Under the G20, the International Labour Organisation has already placed a proposal in the employment working group for digital labour platforms to develop an international governance system determining minimum rights and protections for platform workers.
- Implementation of central bank digital currency projects: Similarly, on digital money, a reincarnated Bretton Woods is being advocated to address the distrust in private currencies and to coordinate the implementation of central bank digital currency projects.
- Digital taxation: Finally, in the deeply contested area of digital taxation, the OECD facilitated Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) negotiations and helped arrive at a global solution.
- Digital sovereignty: The internet is splintering and digital sovereignty is now commonplace; yet, there is no better time for countries to come together and build a framework for global digital governance.
What are the big 5 tech companies called?
- The Big Five tech giants—Apple, Amazon, Google (Alphabet), Meta, and Microsoft.
Conclusion
- The rapid digitalisation of the world along with a new focus on trust in the global supply chains for digital products and services presents tremendous opportunities for India and its youth. It is now up to all of us to engage in a collective “sabka prayas” to realise New India’s economic potential.
Mains question
Q. The rapid digitalisation of the world along with a new focus on trust in the global supply chains for digital products and services presents tremendous opportunities for India. Comment.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: types of inflation
Mains level: inflation overview
Context
- It seems that inflation may hover around 7 per cent despite RBI’s tightening of monetary policy in the months to come.
What is a simple definition for 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).
Inflation Rate
- Inflation Rate is the percentage change in the price level from the previous period. If a normal basket of goods was priced at Rupee 100 last year and the same basket of goods now cost Rupee 120, then the rate of inflation this year is 20%.
- Inflation Rate= {(Price in year 2 – Price in year 1)/ Price in year 1} *100
Types of Inflation
Creeping Inflation
- Creeping or mild inflation is when prices rise 3% a year or less. This kind of mild inflation makes consumers expect that prices will keep going up. That boosts demand. Consumers buy now to beat higher future prices. That’s how mild inflation drives economic expansion.
Walking Inflation
- This type of strong, or pernicious, inflation is between 3-10% a year. It is harmful to the economy because it heats up economic growth too fast. People start to buy more than they need, just to avoid tomorrow’s much higher prices. This drives demand even further so that suppliers can’t keep up. More important, neither can wages. As a result, common goods and services are priced out of the reach of most people.
Galloping Inflation
- When inflation rises to 10% or more, it wreaks absolute havoc on the economy. Money loses value so fast that business and employee income can’t keep up with costs and prices. Foreign investors avoid the country, depriving it of needed capital. The economy becomes unstable, and government leaders lose credibility. Galloping inflation must be prevented at all costs.
Hyperinflation
- Hyperinflation is when prices skyrocket more than 50% a month. It is very rare. In fact, most examples of hyperinflation have occurred only when governments printed money to pay for wars. Examples of hyperinflation include Germanyin the 1920s, Zimbabwe in the 2000s, and Venezuela in the 2010s. The last time America experienced hyperinflation was during its civil war.
Core Inflation
- The core inflation rate measures rising prices in everything except food and energy. That’s because gas prices tend to escalate now and then. Higher gas costs increase the price of food and anything else that has large transportation costs.
Consumer Price Index
- CPI is used to monitor changes in the cost of living over time. When the CPI rises, the average Indian family has to spend more on goods and services to maintain the same standard of living. The economic term used to define such a rising prices of goods and services is Inflation.
Whole sale Price Index
- WPI is used to monitor the cost of goods and services bought by producer and firms rather than final consumers. The WPI inflation captures price changes at the factory/wholesale level.
GDP Deflator
- Another important measure of calculating standard of living of people is GDP Deflator. GDP Deflator is the ratio of nominal GDP to real GDP. The nominal GDP is measured at the current prices whereas the real GDP is measured at the base year prices. Therefore, GDP Deflator reflects the current level of prices relative to prices in a base year. Example, In India the base year of calculating deflator is 2011-12.
Factors fuelling inflation in India
- Falling rupee: Inflation is here to stay because it has much to do with the decline in value of the rupee that has fallen to its lowest, which makes imports of oil and gas more expensive.
- Ukraine crisis: The war in Ukraine has the same effect and pushes the price of some food items upward.
- Poor inflation management: With inflation, as measured by the consumer price index, in August going back to 7 per cent, and the wholesale price index coming in at 12.4 per cent, one thing is clear India is not out of the woods on inflation management.
Rising inflation have these implications
- Impact on the poor: This upsurge of inflation is affecting the poor more because some of the commodities whose prices are increasing the most represent a larger fraction of the budget of the most vulnerable sections of society.
- Rising inequality: As a result, inequalities which were already on the rise are increasing further. Recently, the State of Inequality in India report showed that an Indian making Rs 3 lakh a year belonged to the top 10 per cent of the country’s wage earners.
- Inequality in healthcare: India’s spending on healthcare is among the lowest in the world. Decent level of healthcare is available only to the ones who can afford it because of increasing out-of-pocket expenditure the payment made directly by individuals for the health service, not covered under any financial protection scheme. Overall, these out-of-pocket expenses on healthcare are 60 per cent of the total expenditure on public health in India, which is one of the highest in the world.
Need for bold steps on three fronts to tackle inflation
- Unless bold and innovative steps are taken at least on three fronts, GDP growth and inflation both are likely to be in the range of 6.5 to 7.5 per cent in 2022-23.
1] Tightening of loose monetary policy: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is mandated to keep inflation at 4 per cent, plus-minus 2 per cent.
- The RBI has already started the process of tightening monetary policy by raising the repo rate, albeit a bit late.
- It is expected that by the end of 2022-3, the repo rate will be at least 5.5 per cent, if not more.
- It will still stay below the likely inflation rate and therefore depositors will still lose the real value of their money in banks with negative real interest rates.
- That only reflects an inbuilt bias in the system — in favour of entrepreneurs in the name of growth and against depositors, which ultimately results in increasing inequality in the system.
2] Prudent fiscal policy: Fiscal policy has been running loose in the wake of Covid-19 that saw the fiscal deficit of the Union government soar to more than 9 per cent in 2020-21 and 6.7 per cent in 2021-22, but now needs to be tightened.
- Government needs to reduce its fiscal deficit to less than 5 per cent, never mind the FRMB Act’s advice to bring it to 3 per cent of GDP.
- However, it is difficult to achieve when enhanced food and fertiliser subsidies, and cuts in duties of petrol and diesel will cost the government at least Rs 3 trillion more than what was provisioned in the budget.
3] Rational trade policy: Export restrictions/bans go beyond agri-commodities, even to iron ore and steel, etc. in the name of taming inflation.
- But abrupt export bans are poor trade policy and reflect only the panic-stricken face of the government.
- A more mature approach to filter exports would be through a gradual process of minimum export prices and transparent export duties for short periods of time, rather than abrupt bans, if at all these are desperately needed to favour consumers.
Conclusion
- Though the government is opting for market-based economics, currently, India needs a mixed solution that comprises price stability via government channels and subsidies.
Mains question
Q.What are the fuelling factors for inflation? Discuss what steps should be taken to tackle inflation.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Vaikom satyagraha
Mains level: Social reform movement in tamil nadu
Context
- We celebrate Periyar E.V. Ramasamy’s birth anniversary (September 17) as Social Justice Day.
Who is periyar?
- Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the ‘Father of the Dravidian movement’. He rebelled against Brahminical dominance and gender and caste inequality in Tamil Nadu.
Who started self-respect movement?
- The self-respect movement was founded by V.Ramaswamy Naicker, commonly known as Periyar. It was a dynamic social movement aimed at destroying the contemporary Hindu social order in its totality and creating a new, rational society without caste, religion and god.
Why Periyar is called as vaikom hero?
- V. Ramasamy Periyar led the famous Vaikom Sathya Graha in 1924, where the people of down trodden community were prohibited to enter into the temple. Finally the Travancore government relaxed such segregation and allowed the people to enter into the temple. Hence periyar was given the title of ‘Vaikom Hero’.
Leadership at a critical juncture
- The satyagraha began with the active support of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee.
- Within a week all its leaders were behind bars. George Joseph sought directions from Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari. He also wrote to Periyar pleading with him to lead the satyagraha.
- Periyar was in the midst of political work. As he was then the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, Periyar handed over temporary charge to Rajaji before reaching Vaikom in 1924.
- From that date to the day of the victory celebrations in 1925, he was in the struggle giving it leadership at a critical juncture.
Periyar’s role
- Against violence – Periyar presided over the satyagraha in the face of violence and indignity inflicted by the orthodox and the repression of the police.
- Mobilising – To mobilise support, he visited villages in and around Vaikom and delivered public speeches in several towns.
- Gandhi – When the Kerala leaders asked for Gandhi’s permission to make the satyagraha an all-India affair, Gandhi refused saying that volunteers from Tamil Nadu would keep it alive.
- In reports – the British Resident said in his report to the government of Madras: “In fact, the movement would have collapsed long ago but for the support it has received from outside Travancore…”
- Historian T.K. Ravindran — observes that Periyar’s arrival gave “a new life to the movement”.
His Vision for the future
- Ideas on rationality: When he presented his thoughts, there was nuance, honesty, and an explicitness, which prompted even people practising different faiths to discuss and debate his ideas on rationality and religion.
- Freedom of expression: Periyar himself said, “Everyone has the right to refute any opinion. But no one has the right to prevent its expression.”
- Eradication of social evils: Periyar is often referred to as an iconoclast, for the rebellious nature of his ideas and the vigour with which he acted. His vision for the future was a part of all his actions. He did not merely aim at the eradication of social evils; he also wanted to put an end to activities that do not collectively raise standards of society.
Foundation of rationalism
- He understood the evolution of political thought: Periyar’s vision was about inclusive growth and freedom of individuals. He was an important ideologue of his day because of the clarity in his political stand. More importantly, he understood the evolution of political thought and was able to glide through time with this.
- He presented rationalism as a solid foundation: For thinking along these lines. He said, “Wisdom lies in thinking. The spearhead of thinking is rationalism.” Periyar was way ahead of his time.
- Concern towards poor: “Whomsoever I love and hate, my principle is the same. That is, the educated, the rich and the administrators should not suck the blood of the poor.”
- Periyar proclaimed that he would always stand with the oppressed: In the fight against oppressors and that his enemy was oppression. There have been several social reformers in Tamil Nadu who shared their revolutionary thoughts with the people in the past century. In that spectrum, Periyar occupies a unique place because he made interactions of multiple worlds possible.
Periyar said, “Any opposition not based on rationalism or science or experience, will one day or other, reveal the fraud, selfishness, lies, and conspiracies.”
Conclusion
- His works against the Bhraminical dominance, oppression of women in Tamil Nadu, caste prevalence are exemplary. Periyar promoted the principles of rationalism, self-respect, women’s rights and eradication of caste. He opposed the exploitation and marginalisation of the people of South India and the imposition of what he considered Indo-Aryan India.
Mains question
Q.Discuss the future vision of periyar by discussing his role in vaikom satyagraha. Do you think he has placed foundation of rationalism in Tamil Nadu?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: human population
Context
- Though the Global population, in terms of numbers, has been steadily increasing the average global fertility rate has been consistently declining over the past 70 years.
What Reports say?
- Reports suggest that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030.
- According to the World Population Prospects 2022, Average number of children per woman in the reproductive age group has declined by 50%, from an average of five children per woman in 1951 to4 children in 2020.
What is Fertility?
- Fertility is the quality or state of being fertile.
- Fertility is the ability to reproduce through normal sexual interaction. In other words it is the natural capacity to conceive a biological child.
- Fertilitychanges with age. Both males and females become fertile in their teens following puberty.
What is fertility rate?
- The number of live births in women over a specific length of time.
- Total fertility rate is the average number of children born to a woman during her lifetime.
Recent findings
The newly released World Population Prospectus notes that the global fertility rate fell from three in 1990 to 2.3 in 2021.
Overview of fertility dynamics
- Reason: Speeding up the social phenomenon of demographic transition.
- Poorer countries: speeding up the Transition a lot faster than the richer ones.
- Britain: Took 130 years to transition from a fertility rate of five per woman in 1800 to two in 1930, whereas
- South Korea: Took 20 years from 1965 to 1985 to achieve the same. South Korea reporting the lowest fertility rate, 1.05 children per woman.
- Most advanced economies: Have their fertility rate below the replacement rate of 2.1.
- Sub-Saharan African countries: Expected to contribute more than half the population growth after 2050 and grow through 2100. For example, Niger a sub Saharan country with highest fertility rate in the world, estimated to be 91 children per woman.
- What is Demographic transition: is a long-term trend of declining birth and death rate. It is shift from high birth rates to low birth rates in societies with minimal technology, education (especially of women) and economic development and from high death rates to Low death rates in societies with advanced economies and development.
Where India Stands
- According to National Family Health Survey (NFHS), fertility rate falling below the replacement level for the first time to 2.0 in 2021.dropped from 2.2 to 2.0.
- only five States have a fertility rate above the replacement rate: Bihar (3), Meghalaya (2.9), Uttar Pradesh (2.4), Jharkhand (2.3), and Manipur (2.2)
- At the time of Independence, India’s fertility rate was six per woman, and it had taken 25 years to reach five, with the government launching the first ever family planning program in the world in 1952.
- India’s fertility further declined to four in the 1990s when Kerala became the first State in India to have a fertility rate below replacement l
- Increased use of contraception, more years of average schooling, better health care, and an increase in the mean marriage age of women are of the reasons behind the steady dip in fertility rate.
Lower fertility rate as cause and consequences on the economy
Positive impact:
- Lower fertility leads to rise in women’s education.
- Window of time where the ration of working-age population is higher than that of the dependent age groups.
- This high proportion of people in the workforce boosts income and investment, and higher level of saving.
- Lower pressure on land, water and other resources and would also contribute to achieving environmental goals.
- Advanced health care and better nutrition, results in increased life expectancy and productivity of citizens.
Negative impact:
- Lower fertility impacts women’s education positively, which in turn lowers the fertility of the next generations.
- While the income rises with better health care and better infrastructure development, Fertility drops.
- A fall in fertility rate beyond replacement level would have a negative effect on the proportion of the working population, which in turn will affect output in an economy.
- After the window of demographic dividend, the huge working age population moves to old age, supported by fewer workers.
- Japan was the first country to experience the implications of falling fertility rates. Country is now facing fiscal challenges to meet rising social security costs.
Experiments to deal with fertility decline
Countries across the globe are experimenting with policies to boost fertility.
- Germany: found success in boosting births through liberal labour laws, allowing more parental leave and benefits.
- Denmark: offering state-funded IVF for women below 40 years
- Hungary: Recently nationalized IVF clinics.
- Poland: Gives out monthly cash payments to parents having more than two children
- Russia: Makes one-time payment to parents when their second child is born. Reinstituted the Soviet-era ‘Mother Heroine’ title, who bore and raised more than 10 children amounting to almost a one-time payment of 13 lakh.
Way ahead
- Need of the hour is to ensure liberal labor reforms, encourage higher female labor force participation, higher focus on nutrition and health.
- Although India’s working age population will continue to grow for many more decades, it would need to keep an eye on fertility dips.
Mains Question
What are Implications of lower fertility rate on the economy? What steps could be taken to deal with fertility decline? Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: PLI scheme
Mains level: sectors of economy
Context
- Manufacturing can create higher productivity jobs.
What is service sector?
- The service sector, also known as the tertiary sector, is the third tier in the three-sector economy. Instead of product production, this sector produces services maintenance and repairs, training, or consulting. Examples of service sector jobs include housekeeping, tours, nursing, and teaching.
What is called manufacturing sector?
- Manufacturing is the making of goods by hand or by machine that upon completion the business sells to a customer. Items used in manufacture may be raw materials or component parts of a larger product. The manufacturing usually happens on a large-scale production line of machinery and skilled labor.
Should India focus on manufacturing over services?
- Services sector failed to create more jobs: So far, in services, we have certainly developed some advantage and we are doing rather well. Services’ share of the economy has gone up to over 50% of the GDP. However, this sector has not been able to create enough jobs in a commensurate manner. The result is that agriculture still continues to sustain nearly half of India’s workforce, which means that 15% of GDP is supporting some 45% of the workforce.
- Manufacturing can provide productive jobs: We need more productive job opportunities for the workforce to shift away from agriculture. We need to focus attention on the manufacturing sector because of the direct and indirect jobs that it can create.
- Empirical fact: It is an empirical fact that manufacturing of all productive sectors has the highest backward and forward linkages.
- Significant potential: So, all together, there is significant potential for the manufacturing sector to create higher productivity jobs for people stuck in agricultural activities. That is the future for India.
What is PLI Scheme?
- As the name suggests, the scheme provides incentives to companies for enhancing their domestic manufacturing apart from focusing on reducing import bills and improving the cost competitiveness of local goods.
- PLI scheme offers incentives on incremental sales for products manufactured in India.
- The scheme for respective sectors has to be implemented by the concerned ministries and departments.
Criteria laid for the scheme
- Eligibility criteria for businesses under the PLI scheme vary based on the sector approved under the scheme.
- For instance, the eligibility for telecom units is subject to the achievement of a minimum threshold of cumulative incremental investment and incremental sales of manufactured goods.
- The minimum investment threshold for MSME is Rs 10 crore and Rs 100 crores for others.
- Under food processing, SMEs and others must hold over 50 per cent of the stock of their subsidiaries, if any.
- On the other hand, for businesses under pharmaceuticals, the project has to be a green-field project while the net worth of the company should not be less than 30 per cent of the total committed investment.
What are the incentives offered?
- An incentive of 4-6 per cent was offered last year on mobile and electronic components manufacturers such as resistors, transistors, diodes, etc.
- Similarly, 10 percent incentives were offered for six years (FY22-27) of the scheme for the food processing industry.
- For white goods too, the incentive of 4-6 per cent on incremental sales of goods manufactured in India for a period of five years was offered to companies engaged in the manufacturing of air conditioners and LED lights.
Benefits of PLI
- The scheme has a direct employment generation potential of over 2,00,000 jobs over 5 years.
- It would lead to large scale electronics manufacturing in the country and open tremendous employment opportunities. Indirect employment will be about 3 times of direct employment as per industry estimates.
- Thus, the total employment potential of the scheme is approximately 8,00,000.
Conclusion
- In order to integrate India as a pivotal part of this modern economy, there is a strong need to step up our manufacturing capabilities.
Mains question
Q.Should India focus on manufacturing over services for job creation? Discuss the role Production Linked Incentive Scheme could play in boosting manufacturing in India.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: CCI
Mains level: deliberation for effective democracy
Context
- In the recent monsoon session of Parliament (July-August) the Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022 sent to the Parliamentary Committees for detailed examination and a report thereon.
Background
- Parliament had only limited legislative time this session and could pass only five pieces of legislation
- Oppositions stand: opposition alleging that the Government has been trying to steamroll various pieces of legislation in the last few sessions.
- Governments stand: Government worries that so much time is lost in disruptions in Parliament that the legislative process, as it is, becomes unduly delayed and therefore, referring the bills to the Standing Committees.
Parliamentary Committees
- Need of parliamentary committees: The functions of the Parliament are varied, complex and voluminous. Moreover, it has neither the adequate time nor necessary expertise to make a detailed scrutiny of all legislative measures.
- Function: To assist parliament to discharge of its duties.
- Mandate: To examine various legislations referred to it, the budget proposals of different Ministries, and also to do policy thinking on the vision, mission and future direction of the Ministries concerned.
- Composition: Members of the Parliament of both the LokSabha and the RajyaSabha in the ratio 2:1,
- Authority: constituted by the Speaker of the LokSabha and the Chairman of the RajyaSabha, jointly.
- Classification: Broadly, two kinds–Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Standing Committees are permanent (constituted every year or periodically) and work on a continuous basis, while Ad Hoc Committees are temporary and cease to exist on completion of the task assigned to them.
- Parliament has 24 Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSC).
Relevance of parliamentary committees
- Withdrawal of farm law bills shows that if bills are not discussed thoroughly, these laws are just bizarre pieces of legislation from point of view consumers and stakeholders.
- Parliamentary committee’s discussions are held closed door. Members can express their opinion freely.
- Members of DRSC always try reach to consensus despite political differences. Such practices are essential for healthy democracy.
- To strengthen the relevance of parliamentarians the parliamentary committees are crucial tools.
How to improve Efficacy of committees?
- Compulsory process: The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha have powers to refer Bills to a DRSC of Parliament. Making the process of reference of Bills to these committees compulsory/an automatic process will be useful. An exemption could be made with the specific approval of the Speaker/ Chairman after detailed reasons for the same.
- No whip: All discussions in the Parliamentary Standing Committee should be frank and free. No whip of the party would apply to them during the discussion.
- Time bound: fixed timeline to come up with the recommendation and present its report which can be decided by the Speaker/Chairman. In case the committee if fails to give its recommendation within the approved/extended time, the Bill may be put up before the House concerned directly.
- Inviting filed Expertise: To ensure quality work in the committees, experts in the field may be invited who could bring with them the necessary domain knowledge and also help introduce the latest developments and trends in that field from Some subject matter experts/young researchers could be associated with the committee for a short period would be fruitful.
- Authority: The Speaker/Chairman should have the right to fix a time limit, sometimes even stringent, if the government of the day asks for it and the demand is found to be reasonable by the Speaker/Chairman.
- Organized work in the gap: Between two sessions, there is generally enough time to organise committee meetings for discussions on Bills in the parliamentary committees. It is important for the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs in collaboration with the committee chairmen to get these parliamentary works organized during the intersessional period, in advance.
- Other than Budget Proposals: The committees should not limit themselves to discussing just the budget proposals and endorsing them with a few qualifications here or amendments there. They should also come up with suggestions for the Ministry to take up new initiatives and people friendly measures.
Conclusion
- Discussion is not a stumbling block but an indispensable preliminary of any wise actions.
- Discussion is soul of democracy.
- Parliamentary committees are truly democratic institutions in India due to its consensus and bonhomie while functioning.
- Government of the day should take step to strengthen DRSC and refer more bills to committees.
Other related information
Parliamentary sessions
- The president from time to time summons each House of Parliament to meet.
- The maximum gap between two sessions of Parliament cannot be more than six months.
- In other words, the Parliament should meet at least twice a year.
- There are usually three sessions in a year: 1. The Budget Session (February to May); 2. The Monsoon Session (July to September); and 3. The Winter Session (November to December).
Competition Commission of India (CCI)
- CCI is the chief national competition regulatorin India.
- The commission was established on 14 October 2003. It became fully functional in May 2009
- It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs
- Responsibility: To enforce the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition and to prevent activities that effects negatively on competition in India.
- The CCI looks into cases and investigates them if the same has a negative impact on competition.
- CCI also approves combination under the act so that two merging entities do not overtake the market.
Mains Question Q.
Evaluate the significance of parliamentary standing committee in parliamentary democracy. Suggest the steps to strengthen the parliamentary committees.
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From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: FAME India scheme
Mains level: sustainable mobility
Context
- Centralized procurement of 5,450 electric buses and subsequent increase in ambition to have 50,000 e-buses on the country’s roads by 2030 under FAME scheme.
- With the shared aim to rapidly electrify a key pillar of India’s public transportation, recent governance efforts of Union and state governments have created a new business model for e-buses.
Status of State-owned buses
- Status: There are currently around 1,40,000 registered public buses on India’s roads.
- Condition: Large numbers of them having sputtering engines which emits planet-warming fumes into the atmosphere. At least 40,000 of these buses are at the end of their lifespan and must be taken off the roads
- Operators: Most buses are owned and operated by State transport undertakings, which are in poor financial health.
- Revenue loss: They incur large losses because of the subsidized fares to crores of Indians each day.
- Problem: problems of fragmented demand and high prices.
- Limitation: As State governments control issues such as transit, urban governance and pollution control so there’s a limitation for the nation-wide action on this issue.
What is FAME India scheme?
- The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020: Is a National Mission document providing the vision and the roadmap for the faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country.
- FAME: As part of the NEMMP 2020, Department of Heavy Industry formulated a Scheme viz. Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) Scheme in the year 2015 to promote manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicle technology and to ensure sustainable growth of the same.
- FAME Phase-II: Government has approved Phase-II of FAME Scheme with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 Crore for a period of 3 years commencing from 1st April 2019.
- Out of total budgetary support, about 86 percent of fund has been allocated for Demand Incentive so as to create demand for EVs in the country.
- This phase aims to generate demand by way of supporting 7000 e-Buses, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars (including Strong Hybrid) and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers. However, depending upon off-take of different category of EVs, these numbers may vary as the provision has been made for inter as well as intra segment wise f
- Incentives: Only advanced battery and registered vehicles will be incentivized under the scheme.
- Coverage: With greater emphasis on providing affordable & environment friendly public transportation options for the masses, scheme will be applicable mainly to vehicles used for public transport or those registered for commercial purposes in e-3W, e-4W and e-bus segments. However, privately owned registered e-2Ws are also covered under the scheme as a mass segment.
Obstacles in electric vehicle mobility
EV Cost and Battery cost:
- The cost is the most concerning point for an individual when it comes to buying an electric vehicle.
- However, there are many incentives given off by central and state governments. But the common condition in all policies is that the incentives are only applicable for up to a certain number of vehicles only and after removing the discount and incentives the same EV which was looking lucrative to buy suddenly becomes unaffordable
Beta version of vehicles:
- Right now, both the technology and companies are new to the market and the products they are manufacturing are possibly facing real costumers for the first time.
- It’s nearly impossible to make such a complex product like an automobile perfect for the customers in the first go, and as expected the buyers faced many issues. Vehicles like RV400, EPluto 7G, Nexon all them has to update their vehicle up to a very high extent after customer feedback and reviews.
Poor Infrastructure and range anxiety:
- Poor infrastructure is among the most pressing issue among people thinking to opt for electric vehicles.
- Poor infra doesn’t only include a lack of charging stations but also the lack of proper charging set up in their home.
No Universal charger and Ecosystem (Lack of standardization):
- Every second electric vehicle-making company has its own different charging port which is becoming a hurdle to setting up a proper charging ecosystem.
- Also, many EV users complained about facing moral trouble for charging their vehicle in different EV-making Company’s charging stations which can impact the growth of the EV industry.
Temperature Issues:
- Temperature can affect the performance of an EV battery at a large extent which makes EV’s inappropriate for too cold (Uttarakhand, Meghalaya) or too hot regions like (Rajasthan, Kerala). The battery can give its ideal performance when it’s in use under the temperature range of 15-40 degrees.
Environmental concerns:
- The EV revolution is necessary for the most populated and polluted parts of India like Delhi, Mumbai, etc. but in such cities the major chunk of electricity is generated through burning fossil fuels which are equivalent to spreading the pollution through the ICE vehicle smoke, even most of the charging stations are reportedly operating upon diesel-driven electricity generator.
Way ahead
- With anything new, there will always be challenges.
- The EV industry is still in a nascent stage in India but developing at a rapid pace. Catching up to speed are the infrastructure requirements to support the EV demand.
- Even with the current challenges, electric vehicles present huge potential to reduce our carbon footprints and provide a cost-effective system of transportation.
- And one way to contribute towards this growth is to buy an electric vehicle.
Mains Question
Q. What do you understand by FAME India scheme? How it will help tackling climate change? What are the obstacles in implementation of this scheme?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: government schemes
Mains level: social welfare
Context
India will be facing the immediate challenge –The ageing of the population. Challenge to ensure a decent quality of life for the old age people in the near future, planning and providing for it must begin today.
Background
- Life expectancy in India has more than doubled since Independence from around 32 years in the late 1940s to 70 years or so today, a historical achievement.
- Over the same period, the fertility rate has crashed from about six children per woman to just two, which liberated women from the cycle of continuous child bearing and child care.
What is ageing of the population?
- Meaning: Population ageing is a shift in the distribution of a country’s population towards older ages.
- Reason behind it: Decline in the fertility rate and Rise In the life expectancy. An increase in longevity increases the average age of the population by increasing the numbers of surviving older people.
- Impact of the ageing population:, labor supply shortage, change in patterns of saving and investment, deteriorate fiscal balance, lack of adequate welfare system etc.
- Challenges they impose: Social security, elderly Healthcare, Dependence on the family etc.
What is the status in India?
- According to the National Commission on Population, The share of the elderly (persons aged 60 years and above) close to 9% in 2011.
- It is growing fast and may reach 18% by 2036.
- Depression: According to survey by Abdul Latif Jameel foundation in Tamilnadu, 30-50% of people above age of 60 has a symptoms of depression.The proportion with depression symptoms is much higher for women than men, and rises sharply with age. In most cases, depression remains undiagnosed and untreated.
- Loneliness: Loneliness one the major factor leading to depression. A large majority of elderly persons living alone are women, mainly widows.
- Hardship of age: Monetary assistance can certainly help to cope with many health issues.
- Poverty and poor health: Old age pensions are vital. Cash helps to lead a dignified life.
Current government schemes for elderly
Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Scheme – This is one of the most popular senior citizen pension schemes in India.
- Designed for senior citizens above 60 years of age, the policy term of this Prime Minister Senior Citizen Scheme extends to ten years.
- The pensioner can choose the frequency of the payment – monthly/quarterly/half- yearly/annually.
- You can earn interest of 8% per annum over this scheme.
- The minimum and maximum capping of pension are Rs. 3,000 per month and 10,000 per month, respectively
National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly (NPHCE)–
- Introduced in 2010, this scheme concentrates on preventive as well as promotive, care for the maintenance of overall health.
- This program was launched to address the health issues faced by seniors.
- The district-level objectives include providing dedicated health facilities in district hospitals, community health centres (CHC), primary health centres (PHC), and sub-centres (SC) levels through State Health Society.
- These facilities maybe free or highly subsidized.
Varishta Mediclaim Policy –
- This policy aids seniors by covering the cost of medicines, blood, ambulance charges, and other diagnosis related charges.
- Designed for senior citizens between the age of 60 and 80 years, this helps meet the health-related expenses of senior citizens.
- Income tax benefits are allowed for payment of premium.
- Although the policy period is for one year, you can extend the renewal up to the age of 90 years.
Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana –
- This scheme provides physical aids and assisted-living devices to the elderly above 60 years of age that belong to the BPL (below the poverty line) category.
- If senior citizens wish to avail this, then they must have a BPL card.
- This is a Central Sector Scheme and is entirely funded by the Central Government.
Varishta Pension Bima Yojana –
- This pension scheme, launched by the Ministry of Finance, is for senior citizens above 60 years.
- The LIC of India has the authority to operate this scheme.
- Any Medical check-ups is not necessary to avail this policy.
- It offers assured pension with a guaranteed interest rate of 8% per annum for up to 10 years –
- You can opt for monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and yearly pension – depends on how you’d like to receive it.
Vayoshreshtha Samman –
This scheme focuses on those seniors who have made significant contributions in their disciplines and recognized their efforts.
It was upgraded to the National Award in 2013, and since then, awards have been granted below thirteen categories.
Conclusion
- Social security pensions, of course, are just the first step towards a dignified life for the elderly. They also need other support and facilities such as health care, disability aids and assistance with daily tasks, recreation opportunities and a good social life. They can be the active contributor to the economy having the years of experience and mentorship to the demographic dividend.
Mains Question Q.
Discuss the challenges before our elderly today? What steps have been taken by government to address these challenges?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: iron fortification
Mains level: women health
Context
- The recent National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data shows anaemia rates increased from 53 per cent to 57 per cent in women and 58 per cent to 67 per cent in children in 2019-21.
Definition of anaemia
- The WHO defines anaemia as a condition where the number of red blood cells or the haemoglobin concentration within them is lower than normal. This compromises immunity and impedes cognitive development.
Why anaemia is a concern?
- Adverse effects of anaemia affect all age groups lower physical and cognitive growth and alertness among children and adolescents, and lesser capacity to learn and play, directly impacting their future potential as productive citizens.
- Anaemia among adolescent girls (59.1 per cent) advances to maternal anaemiaand is a major cause of maternal and infant mortality and general morbidity and ill health in a community.
What causes anaemia?
- Imbalanced diet: Cereal-centric diets, with relatively less consumption of iron-rich food groups like meat, fish, eggs, and dark green leafy vegetables (DGLF), can be associated with higher levels of anaemia.
- Underlying factors: High levels of anaemia are also often associated with underlying factors like poor water quality and sanitation conditions that can adversely impact iron absorption in the body.
- Iron deficiency is major cause: A diet that does not contain enough iron, folic acid, or vitamin B12 is a common cause of anaemia.
- Some other conditions: That may lead to anaemia include pregnancy, heavy periods, blood disorders or cancer, inherited disorders, and infectious diseases.
Why is anaemia so high in the country?
- Low vitamin intake: Iron-deficiency and vitamin B12-deficiency anaemia are the two common types of anaemia in India.
- High population and nutrition deprivation: Among women, iron deficiency prevalence is higher than men due to menstrual iron losses and the high iron demands of a growing foetus during pregnancies.
- Overemphasis on cereals: Lack of millets in the diet due to overdependence on rice and wheat, insufficient consumption of green and leafy vegetables could be the reasons behind the high prevalence of anaemia in India.
What is Iron fortification?
- Iron fortification of food is a methodology utilized worldwide to address iron deficiency. Iron fortification programs usually involve mandatory, centralized mass fortification of staple foods, such as wheat flour.
Why need iron fortification?
- Iron deficiency anaemia is due to insufficient iron.
- Without enough iron, the body can’t produce enough of a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen (haemoglobin).
- Severe anaemia during pregnancy increases risk of premature birth, having a low birth weight baby and postpartum depression. Some studies also show an increased risk of infant death immediately before or after birth.
Success story / value addition
- Nepal’s success story to improve maternal anaemia by national action plan .
- The scheme aims to reduce the prevalence of anaemia in India.
- It provides bi weekly iron Folic acid supplementation to all under five children through Asha workers.
- Also, it provides biannual Deworming for children and adolescents. The scheme also establishes institutional mechanisms for advanced research in anaemia.
- It also focuses on non-nutritional causes of anaemia.
We need to focus on the following interventions
- Prophylactic Iron and Folic Acid supplementation.
- Intensified year-round Behaviour Change Communication Campaign (Solid Body, Smart Mind).
- Appropriate infant and young child feeding practices.
- Increase in intake of iron-rich food through diet diversity/quantity/frequency and/or fortified foods with focus on harnessing locally available resources.
- Testing and treatment of anaemia, using digital methods and point of care treatment, with special focus on pregnant women and school-going adolescents
- Mandatory provision of Iron and Folic Acid fortified foods in government-funded public health programmes
Way forward
- India’s nutrition programmes must undergo a periodic review.
- The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), which is perceived as the guardian of the nation’s nutritional well-being must reassess itself and address critical intervention gaps, both conceptually and programmatically, and produce rapid outcomes.
- The nutritional deficit which ought to be considered an indicator of great concern is generally ignored by policymakers and experts. Unless this is addressed, rapid improvement in nutritional indicators cannot happen.
Conclusion
- When a person is anaemic, the capacity of his blood cells to carry oxygen decreases. This reduces the productivity of the person which in turn affects the economy of the country. Therefore, it is highly important to cover Anaemia under National Health Mission.
Mains question
Q. “Every second adolescent girl has anaemia. Every second woman of reproductive age is anaemic”. In this context do you think Women’s empowerment will not have any meaning without tackling anaemia? Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: KAPILA scheme
Mains level: IPR regime
Context
- Increasing the efficiency of processing patent applications and wider academia-industry collaboration are crucial steps for patent system.
What is patent system?
- A patent system is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention.
Why are patents important?
- A patent is important because it can help safeguard our invention. It can protect any product, design or process that meets certain specifications according to its originality, practicality, suitability, and utility. In most cases, a patent can protect an invention for up to 20 years.
How to get patent?
- To get a patent, technical information about the invention must be disclosed to the public in a patent application.
- The patent owner may give permission to, or license, other parties to use the invention on mutually agreed terms.
- The owner may also sell the right to the invention to someone else, who will then become the new owner of the patent.
- Once a patent expires, the protection ends, and an invention enters the public domain; that is, anyone can commercially exploit the invention without infringing the patent.
- Patents may be granted for inventions in any field of technology, from an everyday kitchen utensil to a nanotechnology chip.
- An invention can be a product – such as a chemical compound, or a process, for example – or a process for producing a specific chemical compound.
- Patent protection is granted for a limited period, generally 20 years from the filing date of the application.
- Patents are territorial rights. In general, the exclusive rights are only applicable in the country or region in which a patent has been filed and granted, in accordance with the law of that country or region.
How patents can support inventors and improve lives
- Recognize and reward: Patents recognize and reward inventors for their commercially-successful inventions. As such they serve as an incentive for inventors to invent. With a patent, an inventor or small business knows there is a good chance that they will get a return on the time, effort and money they invested in developing a technology. In sum, it means they can earn a living from their work.
- Economic opportunity: When a new technology comes onto the market, society as a whole stands to benefit – both directly, because it may enable us to do something that was previously not possible, and indirectly in terms of the economic opportunities (business development and employment) that can flow from it.
- Research and development (R&D): The revenues generated from commercially successful patent-protected technologies make it possible to finance further technological research and development (R&D), thereby improving the chances of even better technology becoming available in the future.
- Opportunities for business growth: A patent effectively turns an inventor’s know-how into a commercially tradeable asset, opening up opportunities for business growth and job creation through licensing and joint ventures, for example.
- Commercialization of a technology: Holding a patent also makes a small business more attractive to investors who play a key role in enabling the commercialization of a technology.
- Spark new ideas: The technical information and business intelligence generated by the patenting process can spark new ideas and promote new inventions from which we can all benefit and which may, in turn, qualify for patent protection.
- No freebies: A patent can help stop unscrupulous third parties from free riding on the efforts of the inventor.
What is KAPILA Initiative?
- Full form: KAPILA is an acronym for Kalam Program for IP (Intellectual Property) Literacy and Awareness.
- Guidelines for patent Filing: Under this campaign, students pursuing education in higher educational institutions will get information about the correct system of the application process for patenting their invention and they will be aware of their rights.
- Encouragement to students: The program will facilitate the colleges and institutions to encourage more and more students to file patents.
Thing to remember
Remember one thing, ‘KAPILA’ Program is related to IP awareness. It sounds much like an animal husbandry related initiative.
Way ahead
- As the patent system is a critical aspect of the national innovation ecosystem, investing in the patent ecosystem will help in strengthening the innovation capability of India.
- The right interventions should be made for the promotion of the quality of patent applications and collaboration between academia and industry.
Mains question
Q. A patent can help stop unscrupulous third parties from free riding on the efforts of the inventor. Discuss this statement in context of protection of innovative ecosystem in India.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: various judgments
Mains level: human rights
Context
- Four years after landmark LGBTQ verdict: The march to full citizenship.
Why in news?
- On September 6, 2018, exactly four years ago, in Navtej Singh Johar and Ors v Union of India, a five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court, in a beautifully elaborate decision, liberated LGBTQI Indians from the darkness of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
- LGBTQ is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
What is Section 377 of the IPC?
- It reads – Unnatural offences: Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
- The terms “carnal intercourse” and “against the order of nature” are not defined precisely anywhere in the code.
Role played by the judiciary hitherto
- The Delhi High Court’s verdict in Naz Foundation vs Government of NCT of Delhi (2009) was a landmark in the law of sexuality and equality jurisprudence in India.
- The court held that Section 377 offended the guarantee of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution, because it creates an unreasonable classification and targets homosexuals as a class.
- In a retrograde step, the Supreme Court, in Suresh Kumar Koushal vs Naz Foundation (2013), reinstated Section 377 to the IPC.
- However, the Supreme Court in Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. vs Union of India (2018) declared that the application of Section 377 IPC to consensual homosexual behaviour was “unconstitutional”.
- This Supreme Court judgment has been a great victory to the Indian individual in his quest for identity and dignity.
- It also underscored the doctrine of progressive realisation of rights.
What’s next?
- Overarching legislation is needed to guarantee equality to all persons on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, sex, caste, religion, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, nationality, and other grounds.
- The law should impose obligations of equality and non-discrimination on all persons, public and private, and in the areas of education, employment, healthcare, land and housing and access to public places.
- It should provide for civil remedies to stop discriminatory behaviour, costs and damages, and positive action to make reparations.
- We need an equality law to define what equality would encompass.
- Supreme Court comes held in its privacy judgment in K.S. Puttuswamy v. Union of India (2017) that equality and liberty cannot be separated, and equality encompasses the inclusion of dignity and basic freedoms.
Way forward
- Schools and colleges must effect changes in curricula for a better understanding of the community.
- People of a different sexual orientation or gender identity often narrate harrowing tales of bullying, discrimination, stigma and ostracization.
- Gender-neutral restrooms should be compulsory in educational institutes and other places.
- Parents too need to be sensitised, because the first point of misunderstanding and abuse often begins at home, with teenagers being forced to opt for “conversion” therapies.
Conclusion
- Justice Chandrachud, speaking on the fourth anniversary of Johar and the journey ahead, while quoting the Beatles classic “All you need is love”, notes that “simply love is not enough”. Rights are necessary. Which will enhance dignity of the community.
Mains question
Q. “Silent segregation” on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation preferences are followed in several houses. Elucidate in context of LGBTQ issues. What Legal remedies are needed for its victims?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: Health care sector reforms
Context
- Doctor shortages are creating hurdles in health emergency response
What is the crux of the article in simple words?
- Medical qualification and expertise is necessary to deliver quality health services by medical professionals unlike by general health care workers who lack competency.
What is public health?
- Public health has been defined as “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals”.
Why there is need of qualification?
- Lack of training: Health workers have no training in public health; they are grassroots-level service providers. Asking them to be part of public health cadre trivialises the profession of public health.
- Separate profession: It is important to understand that public health is a separate profession with a specific set of competencies.
What are 4 pillars of public health?
- Academics: Academics refers to a good understanding of evidence generation and synthesis by having a good grounding in epidemiology and biostatistics. These competencies are also critical for monitoring and evaluating programmes, conducting surveillance, and interpreting data and routine reporting.
- Activism: Public health is inherently linked to ‘social change’ and an element of activism is core to public health. Public health requires social mobilisation at the grassroots level by understanding community needs, community organisation, etc. This requires grounding in social and behavioural sciences.
- Administration: Administration refers to administering health systems at different levels from a primary health centre to the district, State, and national level. This includes implementing and managing health programmes, addressing human resource issues, supply and logistical issues, etc. It includes microplanning of programme delivery, team building, leadership as well as financial management to some extent.
- Advocacy: In public health, there is little that one can do at an individual level; there must be communication with key stakeholders to change the status quo at different levels of government. This requires clear enunciation of the need, analysis of alternative set of actions and the cost of implementation or non-implementation. Good communication and negotiation skills are critical to perform this function. The related subjects are health policy, health economics, health advocacy and global health.
What are the hurdles in absorbing others as public health professionals?
- Lack of skill: Many doctors and other health professionals work at the grassroots level and develop a good sense of public health due to their inclination. But they do not become public health professionals as they may not have the necessary skills. Nevertheless, they are valuable.
- Lack of critical expertise: Clinicians with training in epidemiology and biostatistics would not qualify to be public health professionals as they lack not only other essential and critical expertise but also an appropriate perspective.
- Compromise on quality:
- Deficiency: The doctor-patient ratio of 1:1655 in India as against WHO norm of 1:1000 clearly shows the deficit of MBBS. While the government is working towards a solution and targeting to reach the required ratio, there is a need to relook at the overall medical education.
- Post pandemic scenario: The lag in formal medical education has come up evidently post-pandemic when the nation saw the medical fraternity struggling to fill the doctor deficit.
- Limited government seats: The number of seats available for medical education in India is far less than the number of aspirants who leave school with the dream of becoming doctors.
- Lack of skills: Though the institutes are managing to hire professors and lecturers, there is a lack of technical skills. Finding faculties in clinical and non-clinical disciplines is difficult and there are very few faculty development programs for upskilling the existing lot.
- Lack of infrastructure: The gap in digital learning infrastructure is currently the biggest challenge the sector is facing. There is an urgent need to adopt technology and have resources available to facilitate e-learning.
- Lack of research and innovation: The medical research and innovation needs an added push as there haven’t been many ground-breaking research here. The education system needs to focus more on increasing the quality of research. Additionally since industry academia partnership is not available, hence innovation also takes a back-seat.
Conclusion
- By establishing new medical colleges, the government can increase student intake as well as enhance equitable access to public health as separate profession. This will attract the best and the brightest people into this discipline, which is very important for the nation’s health. This is one lesson that we should learn from the pandemic.
Mains question
Q. What do you understand by public health? Do you think it is a separate profession requiring a specific set of competencies? Examine.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: particulars of IIP
Mains level: economic indicator
Context
- India’s statistics ministry generates only one high-frequency gauge of economic activity. And that lone barometer, the index of industrial production (IIP), is completely broken.
What is IIP?
- The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is an index that indicates the performance of various industrial sectors of the Indian economy. It is a composite indicator of the general level of industrial activity in the economy.
How is IIP calculated?
- IIP is calculated as the weighted average of production relatives of all the industrial activities. In the mathematical calculation Laspeyre’s fixed base formula is used.
What are the Core Industries in India?
- The main or the key industries constitute the core sectors of an economy.
- In India, there are eight sectors that are considered the core sectors.
- They are electricity, steel, refinery products, crude oil, coal, cement, natural gas and fertilizers.
Which has highest weightage in IIP?
- The eight core sector industries in decreasing order of their weightage: Refinery Products> Electricity> Steel> Coal> Crude Oil> Natural Gas> Cement> Fertilizers.
Why is IIP important?
- IIP is the only measure on the physical volume of production. It is used by government agencies including the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank of India, etc. for policy-making purposes. IIP remains extremely relevant for the calculation of the quarterly and advance GDP estimates.
Who releases IIP data?
How useful are monthly IIP figures to draw a conclusion about India’s growth?
- IIP figures are monthly data and as such it keeps going up and down.
- In fact, the release calls them “quick estimates” because they tend to get revised after a month or two.
IIP Index Components
- Mining, manufacturing, and electricity are the three broad sectors in which IIP constituents fall.
- The relative weights of these three sectors are 77.6% (manufacturing), 14.4% (mining) and 8% (electricity).
- Electricity, crude oil, coal, cement, steel, refinery products, natural gas, and fertilizers are the eight core industries that comprise about 40 per cent of the weight of items included in the IIP.
Basket of products
- Primary Goods (consisting of mining, electricity, fuels and fertilisers)
- Capital Goods (e.g. machinery items)
- Intermediate Goods (e.g. yarns, chemicals, semi-finished steel items, etc)
- Infrastructure Goods (e.g. paints, cement, cables, bricks and tiles, rail materials, etc)
- Consumer Durables (e.g. garments, telephones, passenger vehicles, etc)
- Consumer Non-durables (e.g. food items, medicines, toiletries, etc)
IIP base year change
- The base year was changed to 2011-12 from 2004-05 in the year 2017.
Way ahead
- IIP remains extremely relevant for the calculation of the quarterly and advance GDP (Gross Domestic Product) estimates.
Mains question
Q. What do you understand by IIP? How it helps us to understand economic health?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: members of G20
Mains level: opportunities for India
Context
- India is going to be at the centre stage of geopolitical spectrum as India will be hosting G20 summit presidency from December 2022. As Harsh V. Shringla, India’s chief G20 coordinator and former Foreign Secretary, (Amitabh kant is G20 Sherpa of India) recently said, “Our G20 Presidency would place India on the global stage, and provide an opportunity for India to place its priorities and narratives on the global agenda.”
What is G20 (Group of Twenty)?
- Composed of most of the world’s largest economies: 19 countries plus European Union, including both industrialized and developing nations. Together, its members represent more than 80% of the world’s GDP, 75% of international trade and 60% of the world’s population.
- Role: To address major issues related to the global economy such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development.
- It is an Intergovernmental forum.
- Strategic role: The G20 holds a strategic role in securing global economic growth and prosperity.
India and the presidency of G20 summit
- In November this year, the 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place in Bali.
- After Indonesia, India will assume the presidency of the G20 from December 1, 2022 to November 30, 2023.
- By hosting the summit of the G20, India will have the opportunity to assume centre stage in proposing and setting the global agenda and discourse.
- India can assert its political, economic and intellectual leadership while hosting the G20 presidency.
- Further it Provides India an opportunity to also champion the causes of developing and least developed countries.
- India could invite and engage countries from Africa and South America to ensure better and more balanced representation at the G20.
Challenges before India:
Global
- World affected by the pandemic: Uneven vaccine availability has been flagged by many countries. Vaccine issue upset some countries.
- Ukraine conflict: According to external affairs ministers Dr.S.Jaishankar due to Ukraine conflict world is divided and this poses the challenge for India to bring rival camp on same stage
- Climate change: Divergent view of developed and developing countries on climate change can be the bone of contention between west and the rest.
- The rise of an assertive China: To maintain the delicate balance between NATO, G7 on the on hand while Russia and china on the other (as India is part of both QUAD and SCO).
Domestic
- Economic challenges: Such as stagflation, unemployment, exchange rate, declining prospects for exports and rising trade deficit.
- Terrorism: Cross border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.
Indonesia has focused on three key pillars in its presidency of G20 presidency:
- Global health architecture: president of Indonesia Joko Widodo talked about a global contingency fund for medical supplies, building capacity in developing countries to manufacture vaccines and the creation of global health protocols and standards.
- Sustainable energy transition: as part of its roadmap to reach net zero by 2060, Indonesia had slashed the coverage area of forest fires sevenfold. The country has restored peatlands and rehabilitated 50,000 hectares of mangrove forests.
- Digital transformation
What India can address?
- Issues of global concern: Terrorism, climate change, stagflation etc.
- Domestic and regional: economic recovery, trade and investment, unemployment, patent waivers on diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines etc.
- Greater co-operation and co-ordination: free trade agreements, supply chain resilience mechanism, stressing on green and digital transformations in the economy and its impact on societal well-being.
- Other important Areas :such as technology transfer, assistance towards green economy, greater access to trade for developing countries, addressing debt distress of countries by offering sustainable aid and loan programmes, tackling food and energy prices/security for vulnerable economies etc.
Why G20 summit presidency is an opportunity for India?
- India exchange the G20 presidency with Indonesia and chose 2023 instead of 2022 to host the G20 countries.
- India wanted to showcase its prowess in its 75th year of independence as cornerstone of new emerging world order. As India is part of Quad and SCO BRICS -the warring factions at world stage, it’s an opportunity in crisis to become the bridge of the divided world.
- India is hosting the summit in Kashmir. World media will be in the Kashmir. In the direct message to world India will again assert that Kashmir is an integral part of India.
Way ahead
- As India will be hosting G20 and SCO summits, India will be central in outlining key priority areas. India can assert its political, economic and intellectual leadership which will have to address issues that help in cement the Fault-line in the world order.
- India’s leadership could define the coming years and decades of global discourse and avenues of cooperation.
Other related Information
SCO (Shanghai Co-operation Organization):
- The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a Eurasian political, economic and security organization. It is the world’s largest regional organization, 40% of the world population, and more than 30% of global GDP.
- Members: The Shanghai Five group was created on 26 April 1996; China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan.
QUAD:
- Known as the ‘Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’ (QSD), the Quad is an informal strategic forum comprising four nations, namely – United States of America (USA), India, Australia and Japan.
- One of the primary objectives of the Quad is to work for a free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
G7:
- The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political forum consisting of Canada, France Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, the European Union is a ‘non-enumerated member.
Mains Question
Q. India can take advantage of G20 for its economic growth and security architecture. Discuss.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: environment conservation
Context
- This is the world’s first intercontinental translocation of a carnivore. It is even more unique because this is the first time cheetahs has reintroduced in an unfenced protected area (PA).
- The Government is preparing to translocate the first batch from South Africa and Namibia to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
About Asiatic Cheetah
- Feature: Cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal was declared extinct in India in 1952.
- Status: The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.
- Reintroduction: It was expected to be re-introduced into the country after the Supreme Court lifted curbs for its re-introduction.
- Extinction: From 400 in the 1990s, their numbers are estimated to have reached to 50-70 today, because of poaching, hunting of their main prey (gazelles) and encroachment on their habitat.
What caused the extinction of cheetahs in India?
- Reduced fecundity and high infant mortality in the wild
- Inability to breed in captivity
- Sport hunting
- Bounty killings
Why reintroduce Cheetahs?
- Climate Change Mitigation: It will enhance India’s capacity to sequester carbon through ecosystem restoration activities in cheetah conservation areas and thereby contribute towards the global climate change mitigation goals.
- Reintroductions of large carnivores have increasingly been recognized as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
- The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
- India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.
Why was Kuno National Park chosen for Cheetah Reintroduction?
- Both Cheetah and Asiatic Lions share the same habitats semi-arid grasslands and forests that stretch across Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh.
- The rainfall, temperature, and altitude in the Sheopur district, where Kuno is situated, are equivalent to those of South Africa and Namibia.
- In addition, Kuno contains a diverse population of prey species, including peafowl, wild pigs, gazelle, langurs, chital, sambhar, and nilgai.
What are the Other Recent Initiatives for Wildlife Conservation in India?
Legal Framework:
- Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972
- Environment Protection Act, 1986
- The Biological Diversity Act, 2002
India’s Collaboration with Global Wildlife Conservation Efforts:
- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
- Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)
- Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
- Global Tiger Forum (GTF)
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: tourism as economic driver
Context
- Ministry of Tourism identified Tourism Industry’s potential as a Sunrise Industry.
- There is a need for tourism analysts to hold tourism planners accountable.
What is tourism?
- Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours.
Types of tourism
- Domestic tourism: Refers to activities of a visitor within their country of residence and outside of their home (e.g. a Indian visiting other parts of India)
- Inbound tourism: Refers to the activities of a visitor from outside of country of residence (e.g. a Spaniard visiting Britain).
- Outbound tourism: Refers to the activities of a resident visitor outside of their country of residence (e.g. an Indian visiting an overseas country).
What does sustainable tourism mean?
- Sustainable tourism is defined by the UN Environment Program and UN World Tourism Organization as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”
What is the main importance of tourism?
- Tourism boosts the revenue of the economy, creates thousands of jobs, develops the infrastructures of a country, and plants a sense of cultural exchange between foreigners and citizens.
Why tourism is needed?
- Tourism is not a fad. It is a compulsion driven by the urge to discover new places. Because we have this compulsion to venture into the unknown, we need each other. When humans travel, meet and exchange ideas, civilisation flourishes.
What should be done to promote tourism?
- National Tourism Authority: A separate National Tourism Authority (NTA) should be established for executing and operationalizing various tourism related initiatives. Simple, flexible and elegant processes will be laid down to allow for nimbleness.
- National Tourism Advisory Board: A National Tourism Advisory Board (NTAB) should be set up to provide overall vision, guidance and direction to the Development of Tourism Sector in the country.
- Creating Synergy in Tourism Eco System: In order to ensure synergy at various levels of Government and with the Private Sector, it is important to have a well-defined framework in place.
- Quality Tourism Framework: A robust framework for quality certification of products and services across all segments like accommodation providers, tour operators, adventure tour operators, service providers like spa and wellness, guides, restaurants etc. should be laid down.
- Enhancing the existing luxury tourism products: The existing tourism products such as Nilgiri Mountain Railway, Palace on Wheels etc. should be enhanced and their numbers will also be increased. Haulage charges will be rationalised to make luxury trains viable.
- Railways can be a game changer: For tourism Railways have presence in most parts of the country. Most of the tourist destinations in the country are connected by rail. Railways is also in the process of connecting more places especially the strategic locations that also are tourist places with limited connectivity at present. Indian Railways is working towards promoting tourism in the country by operating more trains connecting tourists’ destinations and also by providing an array of products starting from luxury tourist trains to budget catering tourist trains
- The acronym “MICE” stands for “Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions”, and is essentially a version of business tourism that draws domestic and international tourists to a destination.
- The policy aims to make Gujarat one of the top five MICE tourism destinations in the country.
Way forward
- Enhance the contribution of tourism in Indian economy by increasing the visitation, stay and spend
- Create jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities in tourism sector and ensure supply of skilled work force
- Enhance the competitiveness of tourism sector and attract private sector investment
- Preserve and enhance the cultural and natural resources of the country
- To ensure sustainable, responsible and inclusive development of tourism in the country
Conclusion
- We know that India has the highest tourism potential of any country. That is because we have every terrain and climate zone, and a range of customs, traditions, cuisines, crafts, art forms and festivals unmatched by any other nation. We should monetize our potential through putting comprehensive National tourism policy in place.
Mains question
Q. What should be done to transform our tourist destinations to provide world class visitor experience making India one of the topmost destinations for sustainable and responsible tourism?
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: national integration
Context
- Recent events of targeted killings of Kashmiri pandits and other Hindus by the militants in the valley lead to the protests which once again brought forward the question of their right to return and the safety of minorities living in the valley
Who are the Kashmiri pandits?
- The Kashmiri Pandits are one of the highest ranked Brahman castes who are the natives of the valley, locally known as pundits.
- They were the minority in the valley comprising only 5% of the total population.
- Traditionally dependent on agriculture and small-scale business and one of the favored sections in the administration.
- Radical Islamists and militants started targeting the Kashmiri pundits putting in front the option of either of conversion or persecution.
- The Growth of militancy in the 1990s forced Kashmiri pandits to leave the valley in greater numbers. They started migrating to the other states, leaving every belonging behind and seeking refuge in other parts.
- While many of them started migrating some decided to stay back in their homeland.
- Conflict arose between radical Islamists organization and the Hindus leading to the mass killings of the Kashmiri Hindus in waves which is termed as exodus.
What has been done so far?
- After the Pandit exodus from the Valley in the 1990s, the first few years of this century saw government efforts to send Pandits back to the Valley.
- Under the Prime Minister’s return and rehabilitation of Kashmir migrants scheme, created government postings in the Valley for Kashmiri Pandit “migrant” youth.
- Mostly, teachers and these government employees have lived in protected high security enclaves, but their work requires them to leave these enclaves and mingle with the rest of the population. Another segment, known as “non-migrant” Pandits because they never left the Valley, has lived in their own homes, without state-provided protection.
What is CDR?
- Centre for dialogue and reconciliation (CDR) is a Delhi-based think-tank incorporated in March 2001, aims to be a catalyst for peace in South Asia.
- CDR working for the peace-building process in Jammu Kashmir, supported the initiative of dialogue between the two communities as a part of self-assessment, acknowledging the mistakes.
What did CDR do in Kashmir?
- CDR supported the initiative for a dialogue proposed by two prominent young Kashmiris one a Muslim and the other a Pandit both who have witnessed the violence of 1990 and the subsequent years.
- They believe in the principle of talking could lead to healing.
- It led to CDR’s ‘Shared Witness’, a Pandit-Muslim dialogue series, in December 2010.
- Public intellectuals and other influential persons from both communities were participants
Observations of the dialogue
- The dialogue series coincided with the launching of the Prime Minister’s job scheme.
- Dialogues created a social environment that enabled Kashmiri Pandits to take up government postings in the Valley.
- They focused on the events in and around 1990, and the incidents that triggered the displacement of the Pandit community.
- By the third dialogue, participants were sharing individual experiences that did not fit into the narrative that each community had built about the other.
- The process of the conversation lead them to think on the actual reason behind the conflict, was it communal differences, or was it only religion?
From the eyes of the pandits
- Pandits were aggrieved that the Muslims did not protest the Pandit killings, not even when the killers claimed them. That greater responsibility lay with the Muslims as they were the majority.
- If some social organizations had acted quickly, the exodus could have been stopped.
- They observed that the Pandit community too had suffered from a lack of leadership.
- They demand an apology and to set up of possible “Truth commission”
What do the Muslims say?
- The Muslim participants felt the Pandits were in denial of the struggle of the Muslims in the Valley, who were facing violence from the system.
- The Kashmiri Muslim was always portrayed as being misguided, aided, and abetted by Pakistan.
- The protest in Kashmir was not against religion but against structures of power and oppression.
What is the Current situation?
- The fresh spate of targeted killings of Kashmir pandits created an environment of fear and provided a major setback to their rehabilitation in the Kashmir valley.
Way ahead:
- We need urgent civil society engagement between communities in Kashmir once again.
- The government can enable it, but individuals and civil society will need to create conditions on the ground. They will have to encourage people to give up the blame game.
Mains question
Q. Dialogue can bring peace in Kashmir valley. Critically examine.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: farmers welfare
Context
- The increasing cost of production and the increase in GST on apple cartons has triggered protests in Himachal Pradesh’s apple farmers.
What is the issue?
- The cost of production of agricultural items increased substantially, denying remunerative prices to the poor and marginal apple farmers.
Reason for crisis in apple farming
- Increase in cost of production: The input cost of fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides has risen in the last decade by 300%, as per some estimates. The cost of apple cartons and trays and packaging has also seen a dramatic rise. In the last decade, the cost of a carton, for instance, has risen from about ₹30 to ₹ The cost borne to market the Produce has also risen.
- High taxation: The increase in the Goods and Services Tax on cartons from 12% to 18%. This was done to ensure that farmers are forced to sell their produce to big buyers instead of selling it in the open market. Just as the three farm laws were designed on the pretext of getting rid of the middlemen, the argument here was that commission agents, who fleece the apple farmers, will be forced to exit the picture. But this leaves the apple growers at the mercy of large giants in procurement, who have precedence of even deciding the procurement price.
- No MSP in Himachal: Unlike in Jammu and Kashmir, where there is a minimum rate for procurement, there is no such law in Himachal. The government also does not seem prepared to bring in such a law. The farmers are demanding that legally guaranteed procurement at a Minimum Support Price (C2+50%) should be ensured to improve apple farmers condition.
How to address this issue?
- Need for a regulator: What is required is an independent body that is duly supported and trusted by the farmers. Such a body should have representatives of apple growers, market players, commission agents and the government. This must be a statutory body that is also given the task of conducting research in the apple economy.
- Directional efforts: Issues such as high input cost, lack of fair price and unavailability of infrastructure such as cold chains should be addressed.
- Required research to support improvements in apple farming systems: Over the past few decades, the priorities in research projects and government policies on apple production were focused on the improvement of tree productivity and product quality. This was important to enhance the net incomes and living standards of apple producers in India. This research should be further enhanced by introducing European varieties in India.
- Focussing on Alternative Market Channels: The alternative market channel works on the principles of decentralisation and direct-to-home delivery. The idea is to create smaller, less congested markets in urban areas with the participation of farmers’ groups and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) so that farmers have direct access to consumers.
- Logistics transformation: To sustain the demand for agricultural commodities, investments in key logistics must be enhanced. Moreover, e-commerce and delivery companies and start-ups need to be encouraged with suitable policies and incentives. The small and medium enterprises, running with raw materials from the agriculture and allied sector or otherwise, also need special attention so that the rural economy doesn’t collapse.
Conclusion
- Agriculture is dying, not as in the production of food but as a desirable profession. One bad yield, whether due to errant rains, pests, etc., and most farmers have no buffer available. The last point worth considering is that food and agriculture are not the same. Expenditures on food span the value-add, including processing, preparation, service in restaurants, etc. Farmers in India merely get paid for their product and not for the food we eat.
Mains question
Q. Do you think there is urgent need to extend MSP to horticulture sector also? Discuss what can be done to solve the apple farmer crisis in Himachal Pradesh.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: multi drug resistant TB
Mains level: TB control
Context
- People’s participation in the ‘TB-Mukt India’ campaign can help eliminate the disease by 2025.
What is TB?
- A potentially serious infectious bacterial disease that mainly affects the lungs.
How TB is caused?
- Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a type of bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It’s spread when a person with active TB disease in their lungs coughs or sneezes and someone else inhales the expelled droplets, which contain TB bacteria.
What does TB do to humans?
- It mainly affects the lungs, but it can affect any part of the body, including the tummy (abdomen), glands, bones and nervous system.
How long has the TB infected us?
- TB is as old as humanity itself, infecting us for at least 5,000 years. The infecting agent, a bacterium, was identified way back in 1882, by Robert Koch, signalling one of the landmark discoveries which laid the foundation of modern medicine
Is TB painful?
- If TB affects your joints, you may develop pain that feels like arthritis. If TB affects your bladder, it may hurt to go to the bathroom and there may be blood in your urine. TB of the spine can cause back pain and leg paralysis. TB of the brain can cause headaches and nausea.
Can we get TB if vaccinated?
- BCG is a vaccine for TB. This vaccine is not widely used in the United States, but it is often given to infants and small children in other countries where TB is common. The BCG vaccine is not very good at protecting adults against TB. We can still get TB infection or TB disease even if you were vaccinated with BCG.
When do TB symptoms start?
- TB disease usually develops slowly, and it may take several weeks before you notice you’re unwell. Your symptoms might not begin until months or even years after you were initially infected. Sometimes the infection does not cause any symptoms. This is known as latent TB.
Is TB curable permanently?
- TB can usually be completely cured by the person with TB taking a combination of TB drugs. The only time that TB may not be curable is when the person has drug resistant TB.
- Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is a form of antimicrobial resistance that is difficult and costly to treat. It is caused by TB bacteria that are resistant to at least one of the first-line existing TB medications, resulting in fewer treatment options and increasing mortality rates.
Risk factors for TB include
- Poverty
- HIV infection.
- Being in jail or prison (where close contact can spread infection)
- Substance abuse.
- Taking medication that weakens the immune system.
- Kidney disease and diabetes.
TB statistic for mains
We are home to 1 in 4 of the world’s TB patients.
Over 2.5 million Indians are infected.
Government initiatives
- Nikshay Poshan Yojana: in which TB patients receive Rs 500 every month while on treatment was launched. Nikshay Poshan Yojana ensure that the patients have economic support and nutrition during the required period.
- TB Harega Desh Jeetega Campaign: was launched to accelerate the efforts to end TB by 2025. The campaign aims to initiate preventive and promotive health approaches.
- Community-led approach: By applying “multi-sectoral and community-led” approach, the government is building a national movement to end TB by 2025.
- Ni-kshay Mitra: Any individual or organisation can register as Ni-kshay Mitra on the Ni-kshay 2.0 portal to support people affected by the disease. The initiative intends to provide essential nutritional and social support to people with TB and root out stigma and discrimination against them.
Some positive suggestions to eliminate TB
- Sincere efforts need to be made to make our health systems more accessible and reliable.
- It also required to ensure that those seeking care trust the healthcare system and get the appropriate care for completing treatment.
- There is a need to create more labs, point of care tests, an assured drug pipeline, access to new drugs.
- The government should also ensure counselling and support for those affected.
- Every patient who is diagnosed late and does not receive timely treatment continues to infect others.
- To break this cycle, government machinery at the field level should work with communities and provide free diagnosis and treatment to every affected individual.
Conclusion
- We have ignored TB for too long. It’s time we acknowledge the magnitude of the disease, and work harder at offering individuals equitable healthcare access and resources that the disease warrants.
Mains question
Q. Do you think we can eliminate TB by 2025? Discuss the roadmap and give some affirmative actions to be taken by government.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: NA
Mains level: disaster management
Context
- Bengaluru floods are alarming us to go for robust disaster management strategies.
What is flood?
- Floods are the most frequent type of natural disaster and occur when an overflow of water submerges land that is usually dry. Floods are often caused by heavy rainfall, rapid snowmelt or a storm surge from a tropical cyclone or tsunami in coastal areas.
Causes of frequent urban floods
Natural
- Meteorological Factors:Heavy rainfall, cyclonic storms and thunderstorms causes water to flow quickly through paved urban areas and impound in low lying areas.
- Hydrological Factors: Overbank flow channel networks, occurrence of high tides impeding the drainage in coastal cities.
- Climate Change: Climate change due to various anthropogenic events has led to extreme weather events.
Anthropological
- Unplanned Urbanization:Unplanned Urbanization is the key cause of urban flooding. A major concern is blocking of natural drainage pathways through construction activity and encroachment on catchment areas, riverbeds and lakebeds.
- Destruction of lakes: A major issue in India cities. Lakes can store the excess water and regulate the flow of water. However, pollution of natural urban water bodies and converting them for development purposes has increased risk of floods.
- Unauthorised colonies and excess construction: Reduced infiltration due paving of surfaces which decreases ground absorption and increases the speed and amount of surface flow
- Poor Solid Waste Management System: Improper waste management system and clogging of storm-water drains because of silting, accumulation of non-biodegradable wastes and construction debris.
- Drainage System:Old and ill maintained drainage system is another factor making cities in India vulnerable to flooding.
- Irresponsible steps: Lack of attention to natural hydrological system and lack of flood control measures.
Impact of the devastation due to floods:
- On economy: Damage to infrastructure, roads and settlements, industrial production, basic supplies, post disaster rehabilitation difficulties etc.
- On human population and wildlife:Trauma, loss of life, injuries and disease outbreak, contamination of water etc.
- On environment:Loss of habitat, tree and forest cover, biodiversity loss and large scale greenery recovery failure.
- On transport and communication: Increased traffic congestion, disruption in rail services, disruption in communication- on telephone, internet cables causing massive public inconvenience.
Solutions for effective flood management
- Improved flood warning systems: effective flood warning systems can help take timely action during natural calamities and can save lives. Pre-planning can significantly reduce the effects of floods, giving people time to migrate to safer locations and stock up essentials.
- Building flood-resilient housing systems: concreting floors can be very useful during floods. Houses should be water proofed and electric sockets should be placed at higher levels up the walls to reduce the chances of shocks.
- Constructing buildings above flood levels: buildings should be constructed a metre above from the ground to prevent flood damage and evacuation during floods.
- Resilience to Climate change: drastic climate changes have increased the frequency of natural disasters in many parts of the world. Governments should bring about environment-friendly policy level changes and eliminate the ones hazardous to the environment to tackle the problem of global warming.
- Create wetlands and encourage reforestation: creating more and more wetlands can help soak up excessive moisture since wetlands act as sponges. Wooded areas can also slow down heavy water flow, minimizing the effects of floods. Reforesting upstream regions can significantly reduce the effects of flood damage.
- Improve soil conditions: improper soil management, animal hooves, and machinery can make soil compacted. As a result, instead of holding water in and absorbing moisture, the water runs off immediately. Properly drained soil can absorb large amounts of rainwater and can prevent it from flowing into the rivers.
- Installing flood barriers: these are flood gates designed to prevent the area behind the barrier from flooding. They can also be kept around buildings to keep floodwaters outside the boundary created.
- Development of GIS– Geographical Information System (GIS) based National Database: for disaster management. GIS is an effective tool for emergency responders to access information in terms of crucial parameters for disaster-affected areas.
- Developing a Federal flood management plan: with responsibilities of union and state clearly defined.
- Creation of 2nd flood commission: (Rashtriya Barh Aayog, created in 1976) to study the flood situation in India under rising challenges of climate change and propose a national-level flood resilience and management plan.
Way forward
- Resilience of people: The rapid transformation in rainfall characteristics and flooding patterns demand building people’s resilience.
- Reconsider projects: Construction projects that impede the movement of water and sediment across the floodplain must be reconsidered.
- Use of technology: At the same time, climate-imposed exigencies demand new paradigms of early-warning and response systems and securing livelihoods and economies.
Conclusion
- We can learn to live with nature, we can regulate human conduct through the state and we can strategically design where we build. We need to urgently rebuild our cities such that they have the sponginess to absorb and release water without causing so much misery and so much damage to the most vulnerable of our citizens.
Mains question
Q. We need to urgently rebuild our cities such that they have the sponginess to absorb and release water. Discuss the statement in context of urban flood management strategy in India.
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