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Type: Prelims Only

  • RBI Notifications

    Indian Banks join ‘Account Aggregators Network’

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Account Aggregators

    Mains level: Read the attached story

    Eight of India’s major banks — State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC First Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Federal Bank has joined the Account Aggregator (AA) network that will enable customers to easily access and share their financial data.

    What is an Account Aggregators (AA)?

    • According to the RBI, an AA is a non-banking financial company engaged in the business of providing, under a contract, the service of retrieving or collecting financial information pertaining to its customer.
    • It is also engaged in consolidating, organizing, and presenting such information to the customer or any other financial information user as may be specified by the bank.
    • The AA framework was created through an inter-regulatory decision by RBI and other regulators.
    • These regulators include SEBI, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) through an initiative of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC).
    • The license for AAs is issued by the RBI, and the financial sector will have many AAs.
    • The framework allows customers to avail themselves of various financial services from a host of providers on a single portal based on a consent method, under which the consumers can choose what financial data to share and with which entity.

    What does an AA do?

    • Reduce bank traffic: It reduces the need for individuals to wait in long bank queues, use Internet banking portals, share their passwords, or seek out physical notarization to access and share their financial documents.
    • Data security: An AA is a financial utility for the secure flow of data controlled by the individual.
    • Data flow: AA is an exciting addition to India’s digital infrastructure as it will allow banks to access consented data flows and verified data.
    • Reduced cost: This will help banks reduce transaction costs, which will enable us to offer lower ticket size loans and more tailored products and services to our customers.
    • Transaction security: It will also help us reduce fraud and comply with upcoming privacy laws.

    How does it work?

    • It has a three-tier structure:
    1. Account Aggregator
    2. FIP (Financial Information Provider) and
    3. FIU (Financial Information User)
    • A FIP is the data fiduciary, which holds customers’ data. It can be a bank, NBFC, mutual fund, insurance repository, or pension fund repository.
    • An FIU consumes the data from a FIP to provide various services to the consumer.
    • An FIU is a lending bank that wants access to the borrower’s data to determine if the borrower qualifies for a loan.
    • Banks play a dual role – as a FIP and as an FIU.
    • An AA should not support transactions by customers but should ensure appropriate mechanisms for proper customer identification.
    • An AA should share information only with the customer to whom it relates or any other financial information user as authorized by the customer

    What purpose does it serve?

    • AA creates secure, digital access to personal data at a time when Covid-19 has led to restrictions on physical interaction.
    • It reduces the fraud associated with physical data by introducing secure digital signatures and end-to-end encryption for data sharing.
    • These capabilities in turn open up many possibilities.
    • For instance, whereas physical collateral is usually required for an MSME loan, with secure data sharing via AA, ‘information collateral’ (or data on future MSME income) can be used to access a small formal loan.
    • HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have been using AA for auto loans, Lending Kart for MSME loans, and IndusInd Bank for personal finance management.

    What data can be shared?

    • An Account Aggregator allows a customer to transfer his financial information pertaining to various accounts such as banks deposits, equity, mutual fund, and pension funds to any entity requiring access to such information.
    • There are 19 categories of information that fall under ‘financial information, besides various other categories relating to banking and investments.
    • For sharing of such information, the FIU is required to initiate a request for consent by way of any platform/app run by the AA.
    • Such a request is received by the individual customer through the AA, and the information is shared by the AA, after consent is obtained.
    • The AA framework is an excellent initiative that will compile all the digital footprints of the customer in one place and make it easy for lenders like us to access it.
    • It will enable us to provide very quick turnarounds to our customers.

    Can an AA see or store data?

    • Data transmitted through the AA is encrypted. AAs are not allowed to store, process and sell the customer’s data.
    • No financial information accessed by the AA from a FIP should reside with the AA.
    • It should not use the services of a third-party service provider for undertaking the business of account aggregation.
    • User authentication credentials of customers relating to accounts with various FIPs shall not be accessed by the AA.

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  • Innovations in Biotechnology and Medical Sciences

    What is Wood Wide Web?

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Wood wide web

    Mains level: Not Much

    Plants appear to be simple enough in their organization. Whether small shrubs or tall trees, all they seem to be made up of is leaves, flowers, fruits, stems, and roots. But simple they are not. Being rooted in one spot has required very special personality traits.

    Wood Wide Web

    • Trees in the forest share resources by using an underground network.
    • A scientist from the University of British Columbia, Dr. Suzanne Simard, revealed this network and called it the wood wide web.
    • In the wood wide web, mycorrhizal fungi colonize the plant roots, and their tiny fungal filaments, or mycelia, connect hairy root tips of different trees together.
    • Mycorrhizal fungi refer to the role they play in the plant’s root system—as symbionts.
    • These root-associated fungi are harmless to plants. Instead, they form harmonious symbiotic relationships with plants.

    An ancient association

    • The association between plants and fungi is ancient.
    • Fossils of plants from about 400 million years ago show the first evidence of roots, and these roots are fungus associations – rhizoids – suggesting that roots co-evolved with fungi.
    • One good example is species of Penicillium, the fungus from which Alexander Fleming isolated the antibiotic penicillin.
    • Fungus–root associations, called mycorrhizae, appear at first glance to be simple mutualisms that are beneficial to both.
    • The root-invading fungus gains nutrients made by the plant, and the plants get difficult-to-find minerals like phosphorus from the microbe. But the association is deeper.

    How does it work?

    • The wood wide web works by offering a win-win situation for all parties: mycorrhizal fungi and trees.
    • The fungal filaments transport nitrogen, phosphorous, water, and other hard-to-capture nutrients from the soil to the trees, in exchange for carbon-rich sugars made by the plants.
    • The fungi also help deliver substances from one tree to its neighboring trees.
    • By using the network, mature trees feed their seedlings with nutrients to boost their survival.
    • When a plant is sick or dying, it can allocate its nutrients to the other plants nearby through the wood wide web.

    Benefits offered

    • Bacteria that associate with roots are called rhizobacteria, and a very wide range of these species are plant growth promoters.
    • Like the fungi, mutualism operates in these relationships too. In exchange for sugars, these bacteria offer plants a wide range of benefits.
    • They may help plants ward off pathogens that cause diseases of the root. They may even trigger systemic resistance to a pathogen throughout the plant.

    Back2Basics: Symbiotic Relationship

    Parasitism

    • It is a type of interaction between two species that results in damage and harm to one member and benefit to another member.
    • Ex. As in the case of the tick-host relationship, the tick gains benefit by sucking blood while the host is harmed as it loses blood.

    Commensalism

    • In this type of relationship one species benefits without affecting the other.
    • Barnacles growing on the back of the whale, orchids growing as an epiphyte on some mango branch, cattle egret and grazing cattle in close association, Sea anemone, and the Clown Fish are some of the classic examples of Commensalism.

    Amensalism

    • In this relationship, one species is harmed while the other is neither harmed nor benefitted and remains unaffected.
    • When an organism excretes the chemicals as a part of the normal metabolism of its own, but which may severely impact other nearby species, this kind of relationship is seen.

    Mutualism

    • In this type of relationship both the partners benefit from one another. When similar interaction occurs within a species, it is known as cooperation.
    • Lichens a mutual relationship between algae and fungus. In this mutual cooperation, fungus gives protection and raw material for the preparation of the food while Green Algae synthesizes the food for both.

    Saprophytism

    • In this kind of biotic interaction, certain organisms live on dead and decaying organic matter.
    • Dung Beetles, Vultures, Fungi, Bacteria, Protozoa are the example of Saprophytism.

    Predation

    • In this type of biological interaction, a predator feeds upon its prey and in this type of relationship, one species is benefitted while the other is harmed.

    Competition

    • In this type of interaction both the species compete with each other for the resources like food, shelter, mating, and both the species get harmed out of the process of competition.

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  • Historical and Archaeological Findings in News

    Visva-Bharati University

    Prelims Only | | Mains Paper 1: Modern Indian History

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Vishwa Bharati University

    Mains level: Not Much

    The Calcutta High Court has directed that there can be no protest by the students within 50 meters of academic buildings at Visva-Bharati University.

    Visva-Bharati

    • Visva-Bharati is a central research university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India.
    • It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it Visva-Bharati, which means the communion of the world with India.
    • Until independence, it was a college.
    • Soon after independence, the institution was given the status of a central university in 1951 by an act of the Parliament.

    Its history

    • The origins of the institution date back to 1863 when Debendranath Tagore was given a tract of land by the zamindar of Raipur, zamindar of Kirnahar.
    • He set up an ashram at the spot that has now come to be called chatim tala at the heart of the town.
    • The ashram was initially called Brahmacharya Ashram, which was later renamed Brahmacharya Vidyalaya.
    • It was established with a view to encouraging people from all walks of life to come to the spot and meditate.
    • In 1901 his youngest son Rabindranath Tagore established a co-educational school inside the premises of the ashram.
    • From 1901 onwards, Tagore used the ashram to organize the Hindu Mela, which soon became a center of nationalist activity.

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  • Minority Issues – SC, ST, Dalits, OBC, Reservations, etc.

    Vanniyar movement in Tamil Nadu

    Prelims Only | Indian Society | Mains Paper 1: Social Empowerment

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Vanniyar Movement

    Mains level: Reservation issues

    The government in Tamil Nadu has announced the construction of a memorial in Villupuram to people killed in police firing and clashes in 1987, during a movement demanding reservation for the Vanniyar community.

    Vanniyar Movement

    • Vanniyar are one of the largest and most consolidated backward communities in the state.
    • They had raised massive protests in the mid-1980s demanding 20% reservation in the state, and 2% in central services.
    • Their movement was backed by the Justice Party as well as the Self-Respect Movement.
    • The agitation began in 1986 with activists sending hundreds of letters and telegrams to then Chief Minister M G Ramachandran seeking an audience.
    • As there was no response from MGR and the then Rajiv Gandhi government, agitators started demonstrations in community strongholds, then went on to blockading rail and road traffic.

    The 1987 deaths

    • The Vanniyars declared an agitation from September 17 to 23, 1987, which turned violent.
    • At least 21 protesters were killed, mostly in police firing, and also in clashes with members of Scheduled Caste communities.
    • While this shook the state establishment, there was no immediate solution.

    Reservation granted

    • After 1989, the OBC quota was split into two: Backward Castes and Most Backward Castes.
    • Vanniyars were categorized among the MBCs with 107 other communities, with 20% reservation.
    • Three decades later,10.5% reservation was granted for Vanniyars within the 20% MBC quota.

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  • Historical and Archaeological Findings in News

    Dinosaur Footprints found in Thar desert

    Prelims Only | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 1: Geographical Features & Their Location

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Dinosaur species mentioned

    Mains level: Not Much

    In a major discovery, footprints of three species of dinosaurs have been found in the Thar desert in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district.

    Details of the footprints

    • The footprints, made in the sediment or silt of the seashore, later become permanently stone-like.
    • They belong to three species of dinosaurs — Eubrontes cf. giganteus, Eubrontes glenrosensis and Grallator tenuis.
    • While the giganteus and glenrosensis species have 35 cm footprints, the footprint of the third species was found to be 5.5 cm.
    • The dinosaur species are considered to be of the theropod type, with the distinguishing features of hollow bones and feet with three digits.
    • All three species, belonging to the early Jurassic period, were carnivorous.
    • Eubrontes could have been 12 to 15 metres long and weighed between 500 kg and 700 kg, while the height of the Grallator is estimated to have been two metres, as much as a human, with a length of up to three metres.

    Key findings

    • The discovery of dinosaur footprints prove the presence of the giant reptiles in the western part of the State, which formed the seashore to the Tethys Ocean during the Mesozoic era.
    • Careful geological observations enabled the scientists to interpret ancient environments in which the rocks of the footprints, which were once soft sediments, were deposited.
    • Geochemical analyses and calculation of weathering indices showed that the hinterland climate was seasonal to semi-arid during the deposition of the footprints.
    • Fieldwork in the Kutch and Jaisalmer basins has suggested that after the main transgression during the early Jurassic period, the sea level changed several times.
    • Spatial and temporal distribution of sediments and traces of fossils and post-depositional structures provided an indication to this phenomenon.

    Significance

    • These trace fossils are significant to ascertain how life started and evolved after the mass extinction of species, including dinosaurs, at the end of the cretaceous period around 65 million years ago.
    • This research also illustrates the evidence of a fluvial freshwater palaeo-environment and tropical palaeo-climate, indicating the presence of a tropical forest and a huge network of rivers.

    No matter what, try this PYQ:

    Q.The term “sixth mass extinction/sixth extinction” is often mentioned in the news in the context of the discussion of (CSP 2018):

    (a) Widespread monoculture Practices agriculture and large-scale commercial farming with indiscriminate use of chemicals in many parts of the world that may result in the loss of good native ecosystems.

    (b) Fears of a possible collision of a meteorite with the Earth in the near future in the manner it happened 65million years ago that caused the mass extinction of many species including those of dinosaurs.

    (c) Large scale cultivation of genetically modified crops in many parts of the world and promoting their cultivation in other Parts of the world which may cause the disappearance of good native crop plants and the loss of food biodiversity.

    (d) Mankind’s over-exploitation/misuse of natural resources, fragmentation/loss, natural habitats, destruction of ecosystems, pollution, and global climate change.

     

    Post your answers here.

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  • Tax Reforms

    Taxing interest on Provident Fund

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Indian Economy

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Provident Fund

    Mains level: Need for taxing PF

    Following its Budget announcement in February, the Finance Ministry has now notified the rules for taxing interest income on contributions made to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) beyond Rs 2.5 lakh (for private-sector employees) and Rs 5 lakh (for government sector employees).

    What is Provident Fund?

    • Provident Fund is a government-managed retirement savings scheme for employees, who can contribute a part of their savings towards their pension fund, every month.
    • These monthly savings get accumulated every month and can be accessed as a lump sum amount at the time of retirement, or end of employment.
    • Since the provident fund money consists of a large chunk of savings, it can be used to grow your retirement corpus easily.

    Types of provident funds

    There are mainly three different types of PFs, which are as follows:

    1. General provident fund: It is a type of PF which is maintained by governmental bodies, including local authorities, the Railways, and other such bodies. Thus, these types of PFs are mainly defined by government bodies.
    2. Recognized provident fund: It is the one that applies to all privately-owned organizations that contain more than 20 employees. Moreover, holding a rightful claim to the PF associated with your organization, you will be given a UAN or Universal Account Number. This enables you to transfer your PF funds from one employer to another whenever you move from one occupation to another.
    3. Public provident fund: It is defined by the voluntary nature of investment on the part of the employee. The PPF is also associated with a minimum deposit of Rs. 50 and a maximum amount of Rs. 1.5 lakhs. The PPF has a lock-in period of 15 years.

    What is the tax on EPF contributions?

    • In February, the Budget proposed that tax exemption will not be available on interest income on PF contributions exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh in a year.
    • Although this has been a concern for salaried individuals contributing to EPF, it will impact only those who contribute more than Rs 2.5 lakh in a year.
    • It will not affect their existing corpus or the aggregate annual interest on that.
    • In March, the government proposed to double the cap on contribution from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for tax-exempt interest income where there is no contribution by the employer.
    • With this, the government provided relief for contributions made to the General Provident Fund that is available only to government employees and there is no contribution by the employer.

    Why tax the PF?

    • There have been instances where some employees are contributing huge amounts to these funds and are getting the benefit of tax exemption at all stages — contribution, interest accumulation, and withdrawal.
    • With an aim to exclude high net-worth individuals (HNIs) from the benefit of high tax-free interest income on their large contributions, the government has proposed to impose a threshold limit for tax exemption.
    • This will be applicable for all contributions beginning April 1, 2021.

    How will it get taxed?

    • For an individual in the higher tax bracket of 30%, the interest income on contribution above Rs 2.5 lakh would get taxed at the same marginal tax rate.
    • What this means is that if an individual contributes Rs 3 lakh every year to the provident fund (including the voluntary PF contribution) then the interest on his contribution above Rs 2.5 lakh —that is, Rs 50,000 — will be taxed.
    • So, the interest income of Rs 4,250 (8.5% on Rs 50,000) will be taxed at the marginal rate. If the individual falls in the 30% tax bracket, he/ she will have to pay a tax of Rs 1,325.
    • For an individual contributing Rs 12 lakh in a year, the tax will be applicable on interest income on Rs 9.5 lakh (Rs 12 lakh minus Rs 2.5 lakh). In this case, the tax liability would amount to Rs 25,200.

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  • ISRO Missions and Discoveries

    [pib] Formation of Blue Straggler

    Prelims Only | Science Tech | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Blue Stragglers

    Mains level: Not Much

    Carrying out the first-ever comprehensive analysis of blue stragglers, Indian researchers found that half of the blue stragglers in their sample are formed through mass transfer from a close binary companion star.

    What are Blue Stragglers?

    • A blue straggler is a main-sequence star in an open or globular cluster that is more luminous and bluer than stars at the main sequence turnoff point for the cluster.
    • The most likely explanation is that blue stragglers are the result of stars that come too close to another star or similar mass object and collide.
    • The newly-formed star has thus a higher mass and occupies a position on the HR diagram which would be populated by genuinely young stars.
    • One-third of them are likely formed through collisions of 2 stars, and the remaining are formed through interactions of more than 2 stars.

    How are they formed?

    • A bunch of stars born at the same time from the same cloud form a star cluster.
    • As time passes, each star evolves differently depending on its mass.
    • The most massive and bright stars evolve and move off the main sequence creating a bend in their track, known as the turnoff.
    • Stars above this bend or brighter and hotter stars are not expected in a cluster, as they leave the main sequence to become red giants.
    • But in 1953, Allan Sandage found that some stars seem to be hotter than the turnoff of the parent cluster.

    Behind the nomenclature

    • Initially, these blue stars still straggling above the turnoff were not part of these clusters.
    • However, later studies confirmed that these stars are indeed cluster members, and they were termed “Blue Stragglers”.
    • The only probable way these stars can still be present in these clusters is if they have somehow acquired extra mass along the way while on the main sequence.
    • Confirming the mechanisms of the mass gain required a study using a large sample of blue-straggler stars and estimates of the mass they have gained.

    What have Indian researchers found?

    • Research showed that these stars are primarily present in the older and massive star clusters. And due to their large mass, they are segregated towards the centre of the clusters.
    • The researchers compared the mass of the blue stragglers to the mass of the turnoff stars (which are the most massive ‘normal’ stars in the cluster) and predicted the formation mechanisms.
    • The study will help improve understanding of these stellar systems to uncover exciting results in studies of large stellar populations, including galaxies.
    • Following these findings, the researchers are conducting detailed analyses of individual blue stragglers in the catalog to obtain their stellar properties.

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  • Wildlife Conservation Efforts

    Behler Turtle Conservation Award

    Prelims OnlySpecies | Enviro & Biodiversity | Mains Paper 3: Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Species mentioned, Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA)

    Mains level: NA

    Indian biologist Shailendra Singh has been awarded the Behler Turtle Conservation Award for bringing three critically endangered turtle conservation species back from the brink of extinction.

    Behler Turtle Conservation Award

    • The Award is a major annual international award honoring excellence in the field of tortoise and freshwater turtle conservation and biology, and leadership in the chelonian conservation and biology community.
    • It is co-presented by the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), the IUCN/SSC Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group (TFTSG) among others.
    • It is widely considered the “Nobel Prize” of turtle conservation and biology.

    Citation for the 2021 Award

    • For some species, such as the Red-crowned Roofed Turtle (Batagur kachuga), Northern River Terrapin (Batagur Baska), and Black Softshell Turtle (Nilssonia nigricans) Dr. Singh and his team’s efforts are the last hope for their wild survival in the country.
    • In just 15 years, there are few individuals that have made such monumental contributions to turtle conservation.

    Turtles in India

    • The Northern River Terrapin (Batagur Baska) is being conserved at the Sunderbans; the Red-crowned Roofed Turtle (Batagur kachuga) at Chambal; and the Black Softshell Turtle (Nilssonia nigricans) at different temples in Assam.
    • These critically endangered turtles are being conserved as a part of TSA India’s research, conservation breeding and education programme in different parts of the country.
    • There are 29 species of freshwater turtles and tortoises in the country.

    About Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA)

    • The TSA was formed in 2001 as an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) partnership for sustainable captive management of freshwater turtles and tortoises.
    • This alliance arose in response to the rampant and unsustainable harvest of Asian turtle populations to supply Chinese markets, a situation known as the Asian Turtle Crisis.

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  • Contention over South China Sea

    China’s new Maritime Law

    Prelims Only | International Relations | Mains Paper 2: Bilateral, Regional and Global Groupings and agreements involving India

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: South China Sea

    Mains level: South China Sea Dispute

    China’s new maritime rules designed to control the entry of foreign vessels in what Beijing calls “Chinese territorial waters” take effect.

    What is the new Maritime Law?

    • Foreign vessels, both military and commercial, will be henceforth required to submit to Chinese supervision in “Chinese territorial waters,” as per the new law.
    • Operators of submersibles, nuclear vessels, ships carrying radioactive materials, and ships carrying bulk oil, chemicals, liquefied gas, and other toxic and harmful substances are required to report their detailed information upon their visits to Chinese territorial waters.
    • Vessels that “endanger the maritime traffic safety of China” will be required to report their name, call sign, current position and next port of call, and estimated time of arrival.
    • The name of shipborne dangerous goods and cargo deadweight will also be required.

    Impact of the move

    • The move is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the passage of vessels, both commercial and military, in the disputed South China Sea, East China Sea, and Taiwan Strait.
    • It is likely to escalate the existing tension with the US and its neighbors in the region.

    Why is this important?

    • South China Sea: The South China Sea, which lies between China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam, is of great economic importance globally.
    • Shipping: Nearly one-third of the world’s shipping passes through its lanes, and the waters house numerous important fisheries.

    Significance for India

    • The South China Sea is a critical route for India, both militarily and commercially.
    • It plays a vital role in facilitating India’s trade with Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN countries, and assists in the efficient procurement of energy supplies.
    • More than 55% of India’s trade passes through the South China Sea and Malacca Straits.
    • India is also involved in oil and gas exploration in offshore blocks in the margins of the Sea, which has led to standoffs with Chinese authorities.

    The actual row

    • The waters around China are hotly contested.
    • Under a “nine-dash line” map, China claims most of the South China Sea as its sovereign territory.
    • This claim is contested by its neighbors in the region and by the United States, which, though it has no claim in the Sea, backs the smaller nations in the fight against Chinese overreach.

    International position

    • Currently, international maritime activities are governed by an international agreement called the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
    • China, India, and over a hundred other countries are signatories of UNCLOS (the US, significantly, is not).
    • Accordingly, states have the right to implement territorial rights up to 12 nautical miles into the sea.
    • The UNCLOS also states that all vessels have the right of “innocent passage” through this region – China’s new law violates this.

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  • Coal and Mining Sector

    Govt. tells utilities to ship in coal as demand surges

    Prelims Only | Economics | Mains Paper 3: Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways Etc.

    Note4Students

    From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

    Prelims level: Coal mining in India

    Mains level: Need for coal imports

    The govt. has urged utilities to import coal despite having the world’s fourth-largest reserves, with several power plants on the verge of running out of fuel due to a surge in power demand.

    Coal Mining in India

    • Coal in India has been mined since 1774 and is now the second fastest mined in the world, producing 716 million metric tons (789 million short tons) in 2018.
    • Due to high demand and poor average quality, India imports coking coal to meet the requirements of its steel plants.
    • Dhanbad city is the largest coal-producing city and is called the Coal Capital of India.
    • State-owned Coal India had a monopoly on coal mining between its nationalization in 1973 and 2018.

    Consumption

    • Coal-fired power accounts for more than 70% of India’s electricity generation. Electricity generation makes up three-fourths of India’s coal consumption.

    Quality of coal

    • The ash chemistry of Indian coal is such that it is high in silica and alumina.
    • The ash is also highly abrasive because of its high quartz content, which can lead to erosion of the syngas cooling system when it gets fused.
    • Indian coal’s sulfur content is low, about 0.5 percent.
    • So, from a gas clean-up perspective, the flue gas desulphurization (removal of SOx gases) and NOx removal system is not economically justifiable and, therefore, not important.
    • Also, in the Indian context, this is unnecessary to meet emission norms.

    Coal reserves

    • India has the fourth-largest coal reserves in the world. It is the second-largest producer of coal in the world, after China.
    • Coal deposits are primarily found in eastern and south-central India.
    • Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Maharashtra accounted for 98.09% of the total known coal reserves in India.
    • As of 31 March 2019, Jharkhand and Odisha had the largest coal deposits of 25.88% and 24.76% respectively.

    Imports

    • Coking Coal is being imported by the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and other Steel manufacturing units mainly to bridge the gap between the requirement and indigenous availability and to improve the quality.
    • Coal-based power plants, cement plants, captive power plants, sponge iron plants, industrial consumers, and coal traders are importing non-coking coal.
    • Coke is imported mainly by Pig-Iron manufacturers and Iron & Steel sector consumers using mini-blast furnaces.

    Try answering this PYQ:

    Which of the following is/are the characteristics/ characteristics of Indian coal?

    1. High ash content
    2. Low Sulphur content
    3. Low ash fusion temperature

    Select the correct option using the codes given below:

    (a) 1 and 2 only

    (b) 2 only

    (c) 1 and 3 only

    (d) 1, 2 and 3

     

    Post your answers here.

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