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General Studies – 1
Introduction
Sculpture art is one of the most ancient art forms in India. Archaeological studies have confirmed that Indians were familiar with sculptures about 4000 years before. Sculpture was the favoured medium of artistic expression on the Indian subcontinent. Indian buildings were profusely adorned with it and indeed are often inseparable from it. The subject matter of Indian sculpture was almost invariably abstracted human forms that were used to instruct people in the truths of the Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain religions.
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Tracing development of sculpture from ancient to medieval India
- Indus Valley Civilization: Sculpture representation started with knowledge of Terracotta and effective chiselling of stones. The Lost Wax Technique or the ‘Cire-Perdu’ process has been known from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization itself.
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- The statue of the Dancing Girl found from Mohenjo Daro is one of the finest examples of Indus Valley art.
- The figurine is about 4 inches tall. Datable to 2500 BC. It is said to be in the tribhanga it is one of the oldest bronze sculpture.
- Bronze sculptures and statuettes of various icons of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism have been found from various parts of India dating from the 2nd century CE to the 16th century CE.
- Most of the images were used for religious and ritualistic purposes.
- The metal casting process was also used for making articles of daily use like utensils.
- Gupta and pre-Gupta period: Buddha sculptures were abundantly found. The Sanghati or the robe is wrapped over the shoulders and turn over the right arm, while the other end of the robe covers the left arm.
- The clothes of the Buddha figures are thin.
- Youthful and proportionate figures.
- Pallavas: Best Pallava bronze is the Icon of Shiva in Ardhaparyanka asana (one leg kept dangling).
- Right hand in Achamana Mudra (indicating he is about to consume poison).
- Cholas (10th -12th Century): Chola bronze art is the most sought-after today in the world of art and exquisite pieces of art developed during this period. This technique is still practised in south India, particularly in Kumbakonam.
- Their World-famous work is Shiva as Nataraja where Shiva’s dance is associated with the end of the cosmic world.
- Ardhanarisvara image: Union of Shiva and Parvati is represented.
- Vijayanagar (16th century): Portrait sculpture is seen wherein artists tried to preserve the knowledge of the royal patrons for the future generation. Tirupati: There is a life-size standing bronze sculpture of King Krishnadevaraya with his 2 queens Tirumalamba and Chinnadevi.
Religion as influence in scultpure art
- It is universally accepted that art and culture is the mirror of society. Even during stone ages, ancient people used cave drawings to express and communicate their experiences and thoughts. India is a land of art and culture.
- Indian art is considered to have originated during the Indus Valley Civilization, around 2500 BC. Indian paintings during the time were often inspired by nature, and spirituality, making it stands out in terms of religious content and aesthetics, an aspect that is appreciated worldwide even today.
- Hinduism: Sculptures of Hindu deities from mythology, puranas, scriptures are depicted widely throughout the centuries.
- Buddhism: Buddhism has influenced the artists from the time of its origin and continues to inspire them even today. Ajanta caves in Maharashtra have stones carved in the shape and imagery of Gautam Buddha, depicting stories from his life. It is mindboggling to see how hills were cut to make caves, and how huge rock was transformed into huge human figurines with limited resources.
- Influence of Islam: Buland Darwaza of Fatehpur Sikri, Taj Mahal in Agra and Shalimar Bagh in Kashmir are some primary examples of Mughal art and architecture.
Conclusion
All in all, India and its art sector have a history to depict the saga of those religions. In return, these religions are known to supply space to Indian paintings, sculptures, music, or allied art in their inheritance. While religion influences art, art also features a reaction to religion. The religious influence of art has defiantly been around for hundreds of years and plays a crucial role to the history of art. These art works help folks that are trying to find peace, security, and hope. Religious paintings are expressions of spiritual themes and principles from the attitude of people who are of various denominations and non-secular groups. Religious paintings are used for both decorative and reflective purposes.
Introduction
According to Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, “Person with disability” means a person with long term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment which, in interaction with barriers, hinders his full and effective participation in society equally with others. According to Census 2011, India is home to 26.8 million people with disabilities and that is a huge underestimation.
The Supreme Court, in Avni Prakash v National Testing Agency and Ors. judgment ruled that, reasonable accommodations, such as compensatory time to enable them to finish an exam, should be made.
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Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016: A landmark step for disabled
- It becomes the duty of the Union, states as well as Union Territories to take up the matter.
- It is also important to ensure that all government buses are disabled friendly in accordance with the harmonized guidelines.
- Disability has been defined based on an evolving and dynamic concept.
- The types of disabilities have been increased from 7 to 21. The act added mental illness, autism, spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, chronic neurological conditions, speech and language disability, thalassemia, haemophilia, sickle cell disease, multiple disabilities including deaf blindness, acid attack victims and Parkinson’s disease which were largely ignored in earlier act. In addition, the Government has been authorized to notify any other category of specified disability.
- It increases the quantum of reservationfor people suffering from disabilities from 3% to 4% in government jobs and from 3% to 5% in higher education institutes.
- Every child with benchmark disability between the age group of 6 and 18 years shall have the right to free education.
- Government funded educational institutions as well as the government recognized institutions will have to provide inclusive education.
- Stress has been given to ensure accessibility in public buildingsin a prescribed time frame along with Accessible India Campaign.
- The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and the State Commissioners will act as regulatory bodies and Grievance Redressal agencies, monitoring implementation of the Act.
- A separate National and State Fundbe created to provide financial support to the persons with disabilities.
Shortcomings of the act
- The Bill strangely makes the clauses on non-discrimination in employment mandatory only in government establishments.
- The Bill continues with the 1995 act’s provision of having a chief commissioner and state commissioners. Neither the commissioners nor any of the members of their advisory committees are required to be Persons with Disabilities.
- Despite a Supreme Court judgment in 2013 that reservations should be decided on the basis of the total number of vacancies in a particular cadre, rather than the posts identified by the government to be filled by persons with benchmark disabilities, the bill has stuck to the latter.
- Also, like it does for the institutions wanting to be registered as ones for PWDs, the bill does not specify the time frame for a certificate of disability to be issued. This gives PWDs no way to address the trials and tribulations they face when tackling the bureaucracy in receiving what has been their right for years now.
- The amended bill does define public buildings and public facilities and services towards making such infrastructure accessible to PWDs in a “barrier-free” manner. However, for all the benefits that this bill strives to provide, basic issues of accessibility, including to information and communication technology, and certification of disability remain a distant unfulfilled dream in the absence of any political will.
Way forward
- Although RPWD Act, 2016 is a rights-based legislation, the success of the statute will largely depend on the proactive measures taken by the respective state governments on its implementation.
- It is time to leverage this vast human capital. It is hoped that the proposed new law, a robust rights-based legislation with a strong institutional mechanism, shall ensure enjoyment of rights by persons with disabilities on an equal basis with the non-disabled citizens of India.
- Many disability certificates can now be issued by primary health care doctors after specific training, which will be a boon to many disabled patients in rural areas. However, the disability guidelines should have also given the power of certification to the private practising doctors, so that the shortage of human resources could have been taken care of, with adequate checks and balances.
- Considering the sociocultural prejudices against them, and the inability, rather the refusal, to keep in mind the needs of PWDs, this bill, as was the fate of the 1995 act, will go only so far to ensure for them the rights that should have been a given. Till they are treated as second-class citizens, and not recognised as capable individuals in their own right, India will continue to be an unjust and inequitable society.
Conclusion
Until each of us is firmly committed to the idea of implementing the two fundamental changes sketched above, we will continue to live in an environment in which, even as we sing praises of the disabled who achieve success despite the obstacles placed on their path, we do not pause to reflect on what it is that makes it so hard for them to succeed in the first place and what we can do to reverse this state of affairs.
Value addition
Major provisions of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016:
- Disabilities covered:
- Disability has been defined based on an evolving and dynamic concept.
- The types of disabilities have been increased from existing 7 to 21 and the Central Government will have the power to add more types of disabilities.
- Persons with “benchmark disabilities” are defined as those certified to have at least 40 per cent of the disabilities specified above.
- Rights and entitlements
- Responsibility has been cast upon the appropriate governments to take effective measures to ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy their rights equally with others.
- Additional benefits such as reservation in higher education (not less than 5%), government jobs (not less than 4 %), reservation in allocation of land, poverty alleviation schemes (5% allotment) etc. have been provided for persons with benchmark disabilities and those with high support needs.
- Every child with benchmark disability between the age group of 6 and 18 years shall have the right to free education.
- Government funded educational institutions as well as the government recognized institutions will have to provide inclusive education to the children with disabilities.
- For strengthening the Prime Minister’s Accessible India Campaign, stress has been given to ensure accessibility in public buildings (both Government and private) in a prescribed time-frame.
- Guardianship
- The Act provides for grant of guardianship by District Court under which there will be joint decision – making between the guardian and the persons with disabilities.
- Establishment of Authorities
- Broad based Central & State Advisory Boards on Disability are to be set up to serve as apex policy making bodies at the Central and State level.
- Office of Chief Commissioner of Persons with Disabilities has been strengthened who will now be assisted by 2 Commissioners and an Advisory Committee comprising of not more than 11 members drawn from experts in various disabilities.
- Similarly, the office of State Commissioners of Disabilities has been strengthened who will be assisted by an Advisory Committee comprising of not more than 5 members drawn from experts in various disabilities.
- The Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and the State Commissioners will act as regulatory bodies and Grievance Redressal agencies and also monitor implementation of the Act.
- District level committees will be constituted by the State Governments to address local concerns of PwDs. Details of their constitution and the functions of such committees would be prescribed by the State Governments in the rules.
- Creation of National and State Fund will be created to provide financial support to the persons with disabilities. The existing National Fund for Persons with Disabilities and the Trust Fund for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities will be subsumed with the National Fund.
- Penalties for offences
- The Act provides for penalties for offences committed against persons with disabilities and also violation of the provisions of the new law.
- Any person who violates provisions of the Act, or any rule or regulation made under it, shall be punishable with imprisonment up to six months and/ or a fine of Rs 10,000, or both. For any subsequent violation, imprisonment of up to two years and/or a fine of Rs 50,000 to Rs five lakh can be awarded.
- Whoever intentionally insults or intimidates a person with disability, or sexually exploits a woman or child with disability, shall be punishable with imprisonment between six months to five years and fine.
- Special Courts will be designated in each district to handle cases concerning violation of rights of PwDs.
Introduction
A cold wave (cold snap or cold spell) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) defines a cold wave qualitatively as “a condition of air temperature which becomes fatal to the human body when exposed.” IMD has predicted a cold wave in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh over the next few days.
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Criteria for declaring cold wave
- The IMD records a cold wave when the minimum temperature is equal to or less than 10 degrees Celsius at a weather station in the plains and is 4.5 degrees to 6.4 degrees below the normal temperature for that period.
- For hilly regions, a cold wave is declared when the minimum temperature is less than or equal to 0 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature is 4.5 degrees to 6.4 degrees below the normal.
Reasons for the Cold wave conditions in India:
- Impact of Western disturbance:Cold wave conditions form due to lack of western disturbances. Western disturbances create precipitation and bring down day temperatures, but night temperatures remain steady.
- Snowfall in the upper Himalayas: This creates a wind chill factor for the northern states of India
- Downward subsidence of cold air: The movement of cold air masses brought about by upper-level winds. They can be triggered by strong westerly winds approaching northwest India and transporting cold air towards the southeast direction. .
- Build-up of an extended area of relatively high pressure over northwest Asia can also bring cold waves.
- La Nina is known to favor cold waves in North India. It increases the severity of cold conditions, also the frequency and area covered under the grip of a cold wave become larger e.g. winters of October 2020 were colder than usual (2 degrees Celsius, the lowest since 1962) due to the impact of La Nina in the pacific.
Impact of cold wave conditions:
- Impact on agriculture in North India: It creates a wider gap between day and night temperatures, this creates erratic winter conditions impacting agricultural practices in the Rabi season.
- Impact on Cash crops: It might also affect the productivity of cash cropssuch as coffee (Coffee growth is extremely sensitive to variations in temperatures), which grows mainly in south India.
- Impact on Human life:Cold wave conditions increase the risk of contracting flu, and could also lead to symptoms like nosebleeds and runny nose. It was also said to be responsible for the 2nd wave of COVID 19 in many parts of North India. Most vulnerable are those who are in the susceptible age groups like the very young and the old or the infirm. Weaker sections of the society who cannot afford to ensure protection against the extremes of weather are also among the, easy targets of the extreme weather conditions.
Way forward
- The best way to prevent illnesses is, however, to avoid prolonged exposure to outdoor environment during cold wave conditions.
- Departments involved should be given special responsibilities, in this regard, and at district level a nodal team should be set up which should report to the district magistrate,
- To take care of out door workers working time shall be changed according to regions ie areas where temperature is forecast to be lowered work hours can be changed to late hours.
- The district level disaster management system should be put in alert , and rescue homes and provision of food and water shall be arranged where there is possibilities of heat or cold winds.
- Special health camps, shall be conducted in by the health department involving the AYUSH sector also, and if needed special health volunteers can be recruited for this propose
- Awareness programmes not only through ASHA workers but also through mass media and social media shall be started
- The panchayathi raj institutions must be mobilized to take a special initiative for cleaning their respected areas so that breeding and grooming places of diseases carriers can be reduced,
- All activities should be monitored at the district level, which in turn must be monitored at the state level , with periodic review meetings of functionaries
General Studies – 2
Introduction
Data protection is the process of protecting data and involves the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data and technology. It aims to strike a balance between individual privacy rights while still allowing data to be used for myriad purposes. The sheer volume of people’s data on the internet and the advancements in technologies such as Artificial intelligence, Data mining and machine learning poses a threat of abuse and misuse of data.
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Background: Data protection genesis in India
- India does not have any dedicated legal framework for data protection. Presently some acts cover the data protection in general.
- Sec 43A of Information Technology Act 2000 protects user data from misuse but it is applicable to only corporate entities and not on government agency. Also, the rules are restricted to sensitive personal data only — medical history, biometric information among other things.
- Other acts like Consumer Protection Act 2015, Copyrights Act 1957 among others also attempt to protect the personal information.
- The need for a more robust data protection legislation came to the fore in 2017 post the Supreme Court’s landmark judgment in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) v. Union of India that established the right to privacy as a fundamental right.
- In 2018, a draft version of the bill was prepared by a committee headed by retired Justice B N Srikrishna. Recently, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology.
Features of Data protection bill
- Non-personal data: The Bill has a changed name and scope. It is now called Data Protection Bill 2021 changed from Personal Data Protection Bill. This means the Bill would also include non-personal data.
- The Parliamentary committee has also said that this Bill should cover both sets of data till an additional framework is established to distinguish between personal and non-personal data.
- Collection and storage: The bill regulate personal data related to individuals, and the processing, collection and storage of such data.
- Data Principal: Under the bill, a data principal is an individual whose personal data is being processed.
- Data fiduciary: The entity or individual who decides the means and purposes of data processing is known as data fiduciary.
- Data processing: The Bill governs the processing of personal data by both government and companies incorporated in India.
- Data localization: It also governs foreign companies, if they deal with personal data of individuals in India.
- General consent: The Bill provides the data principal with certain rights with respect to their personal data. Any processing of personal data can be done only on the basis of consent given by data principal.
- Data Protection Authority: To ensure compliance with the provisions of the Bill, and provide for further regulations with respect to processing of personal data of individuals, the Bill sets up a DPA.
Issues with the bill regarding exemption to state
- Exemptions to the govt: Section 35 of the bill permits the Central Government to exempt any agency of the Government from the provisions of the law.
- No reasonable exemptions: There is no sufficient reason for government agencies to be exempted from basic provisions of the Bill.
- Easy breach: Though this would be subject to procedures, safeguards, and oversight mechanisms to be prescribed by the Government.
- Executive hegemony: There is no scope for oversight over the executive’s decision to issue such an order.
- Arbitrary and intrusive: As demonstrated by the Pegasus case, the current frameworks for protecting citizens from arbitrary and intrusive State action lack robustness.
Concerns regarding provisions leading to surveillance state
- Grounds of expediency: the use of this provision on grounds of expediency is an extremely low bar for the Government to meet.
- Non requirement for exemption order: There is no requirement for an exemption order to be proportionate to meeting a particular State function.
- No oversight on executive actions: There is no scope for oversight over the executive’s decision to issue such an order or any safeguards prescribed for this process.
- State surveillance: Section 36(a) of the Bill provides for an exception where personal data is being processed against criminal investigation. This provision could therefore encourage vigilantism or enable privatized surveillance.
Conclusion
Considering the data privacy as the fundamental right of a citizen and economic downturns of the potential breaches in data, government need to reconsider the above pending issues. A robust data protection law is the need of the hour. Due importance needs to be given on public awareness, better implementation and regulation and efficient grievance redressal as well. While notwithstanding the above measures, the law should not become a weapon in the hands of the state to use it to extraneous reasons. Adequate checks and balances are required to ensure the law does not lead to a surveillance state.
Value addition
Need for Data Protection in India
India has around 40 cr internet users and 25cr social media users who spend significant time online. The average cost for data breach in India has gone up to Rs. 11.9 crore, an increase of 7.9% from 2017. Moreover, in the KS Puttaswamy case, the Supreme Court has declared Data Privacy as a fundamental right under Article 21. Hence it becomes all the more significant to ensure data protection. The reasons are as follows :-
- Data Export: Most of the data storage companies are based abroad. Especially the e-commerce companies that have exabytes of data on Indians. They also export data to other jurisdiction making it difficult to apply Indian laws.
- Data Localization: Enforcing data localization has faced backlash from many private entities and their home governments. There hundreds of private players are involved in data dynamics which makes it difficult to apply uniform data protection framework.
- User Consent: Generally, the application using pre-ticked boxes on consent while asking users regarding the acceptance to the terms and conditions.
- Privacy Breach: It is usually difficult to trace the perpetrator invading the data privacy.
- Privacy laws: Currently, the usage and transfer of personal data of citizens is regulated by the Information Technology (IT) Rules, 2011, under the IT Act, 2000. However, this are applicable only to private entities and not on government agency.
- Data ownership: As per TRAI guidelines, individuals own the data, while the collectors and data processors are mere custodians of data who are subject to regulations.
Introduction
Indian constitution which is the supreme law of the country was adopted on 26th November 1949 after the continuous struggle and efforts of almost 3years. The Constitution of India is the longest written constitution of any independent country in the world. However, the Indian Constitution is known as a bag of borrowings for its varied sources of many features. Dr BR Ambedkar rightly said that it was created after ransacking the known Constitutions across the world.
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The borrowed features of the constitution of India
| S.No | Countries | Borrowed Features of Indian Constitution |
| 1. | Australia |
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| 2. | Canada |
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| 3. | Ireland |
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| 4. | Japan |
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| 5. | Soviet Union (USSR) (now, Russia) |
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| 6. | UK |
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| 7. | USA |
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| 8. | Germany (Weimar) | |
| 9. | South Africa |
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| 10. | France |
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Indian constitution is not a mere bag of borrowings
- The framers of the constitution made necessary modifications in the features borrowed from other constitutions for their suitability to the Indian conditions, at the same time avoiding their faults.
- It was codification if many existing laws and values into one document.
- Concepts of equality, Fraternity and Liberty, federalism, republic, democracy etc. all were to be found in ancient Indian history and scriptures.
- It was never a blind borrowing. It was innovative borrowing.
- When western modernity began to interact with local cultural systems, something like a hybrid culture began to emerge, possibly by creative adaptation. Thus, when we were drafting our Constitution, efforts were made to amalgamate western and traditional Indian values. It was a process of selective adaptation and not borrowing.
- Its a result of strong brainstorming for 2years, 11 months and 18 days. They studies many many different constitutions of various nations but did not copy paste it. They improvised every and every means any article you read as per the basis of Indian circumstances.
- Our Constitution has indeed taken references from existing constitutions of the world, but it has not borrowed the constitution as it exists. For example, US constitution envisages Bill of Rights, while our Constitution envisages rights, as well as Fundamental Duties of all citizens of India.
- We have also taken a strong reference from British Constitution to constitute a sovereign and parliamentarian system in India. However, there is no supreme king/queen in India, and our President is the Head of State. He is also the supreme commander of armed forces. There is no such provision in British Constitution.
Conclusion
India is a country which adopted its provisions of Constitution from more than 60 countries. The references made to these countries made Indian Constitution the lengthiest of the world. Provisions from other countries made Indian Constitution more accurate and helped to involve major set of provisions which is necessary for a country. Even though India referred to other countries Constitution it cannot be concluded as a mere copying or borrowing. It is evident in the Constitution that it is not bare copying which is happened but a clear adaptation of ideas in a way which is suitable for the Indian society. Such approach or references thus cannot be termed as copying moreover its studying and adapting ideologies in a suitable manner. So it’s better to name Indian Constitution as a bag of adaptations and not a bag of borrowings.
Introduction
Electoral bonds will allow donors to pay political parties using banks as an intermediary. Although called a bond, the banking instrument resembling promissory notes will not carry any interest. The electoral bond, which will be a bearer instrument, will not carry the name of the payee and can be bought for any value, in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh or Rs 1 crore.
Electoral bonds have received tremendous attention and scrutiny as a unique poll funding instrument since their introduction in 2018. Critics have termed this a significant step backward in achieving the goal of transparency in political funding.
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Rationale behind the electoral bonds:
- Electoral bonds have been introduced to promote transparency in funding and donation received by political parties.
- The scheme envisages building a transparent system of acquiring bonds with validated KYC and an audit trail. A limited window and a very short maturity period would make misuse improbable.
- The electoral bonds will prompt donors to take the banking route to donate, with their identity captured by the issuing authority. This will ensure transparency and accountability and is a big step towards electoral reform.
- The previous system of cash donations from anonymous sources is wholly non-transparent. The donor, the donee, the quantum of donations and the nature of expenditure are all undisclosed.
- According to government the system of Bonds will encourage political donations of clean money from individuals, companies, HUF, religious groups, charities, etc.
- After purchasing the bonds, these entities can hand them to political parties of their choice, which must redeem them within the prescribed time.
- Some element of transparency would be introduced in as much as all donors declare in their accounts the amount of bonds that they have purchased and all parties declare the quantum of bonds that they have received.
- The electoral bonds are aimed at rooting out the current system of largely anonymous cash donations made to political parties which lead to the generation of black money in the economy.
Findings on Electoral bonds:
- Since its introduction, electoral bonds have become an essential source of financing for all major political parties.
- Between March 2018 and January 2021, electoral bonds worth Rs 6,514.50 crore were redeemed by parties.
- While the ruling BJP has managed to receive the lion’s share (60.17%) of political funding made through the bonds, over half of the total income of all national and regional parties too was contributed through this method.
- for both the principal political parties, it seems that the quantum of political donations channelised through cash donations/non-identifiable sources has decreased substantially.
- Instead, today more funds are channelised through the formal banking system. This was not the case with the earlier system in which half of the political donations were not traceable as they were made in cash form.
- Viewed from this angle, the electoral bonds scheme is an improvement over the previous system.
electoral bonds have only legitimized opacity:
- The move could be misused, given the lack of disclosure requirements for individuals purchasing electoral bonds.
- Electoral bonds make electoral funding even more opaque. It will bring more and more black money into the political system. electoral bonds would cause a “serious impact” on transparency in funding of political parties
- With electoral bonds there can be a legal channel for companies to round-trip their tax haven cash to a political party. If this could be arranged, then a businessman could lobby for a change in policy, and legally funnel a part of the profits accruing from this policy change to the politician or party that brought it about.
- The amendments would pump in black money for political funding through shell companies and allow “unchecked foreign funding of political parties in India which could lead to Indian politics being influenced by foreign companies
- Companies no longer need to declare the names of the parties to which they have donated so shareholders won’t know where their money has gone.
- They have potential to load the dice heavily in favour of the ruling party as the donor bank and the receiver bank know the identity of the person. But both the banks report to the RBI which, in turn, is subject to the Central government’s will to know.
Alternative mechanisms for electoral funding:
- According to Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi, an alternative worth exploring is a National Electoral Fund to which all donors can contribute.
- The funds would be allocated to political parties in proportion to the votes they get. Not only would this protect the identity of donors, it would also weed out black money from political funding.
- The total cost of MPLADS funding for all MPs is nearly ₹4,000 crore every year, and scrapping the scheme even for one year in an MP’s five-year term will be enough to bankroll state funding of Lok Sabha candidates. This is a legalized way of allowing MPs and MLAs to shower money on their constituencies at state expense.
- Direct funding of candidates, who will be reimbursed according to their final share of the votes cast.
- The best way to bring about such transparency in political funding is to put a complete ban on cash donations by individuals or companies to political parties.
- Making it mandatory for all parties to receive donations only by cheque, or other modes of money transfer.
- There should be clear provisions for getting tax benefits for all those making such donations.
- Make it mandatory for political parties to submit details of all donations received with the Election Commission and also with the income-tax department.
- State funding of political parties can be considered. The Indrajit Gupta Committee on State Funding of Elections had endorsed partial state funding of recognised political parties.
- The mechanics of this process need to be carefully worked out to establish the allocation of money to national parties, State parties and independent candidates, and to check candidate’s own expenditure over and above that which is provided by the state.
- Voters have to be made aware through awareness campaigns about ill effects of money power during elections. Bringing political parties under the preview of RTI act.
Conclusion
The 255th Law Commission Report on Electoral Reforms observed that opacity in political funding results in “lobbying and capture” of the government by big donors. Various commissions, including the Election Commission, have given detailed recommendations on suitable remedies. Public funding needs to be examined and introduced with proper checks and balances.
General Studies – 3
Introduction
The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer is the landmark multilateral environmental agreement that regulates the production and consumption of nearly 100 ozone depleting substances (ODS). The Montreal Protocol sits under the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer. It phases down the consumption and production of the different ODS in a step-wise manner, with different timetables for developed and developing countries. Developing and developed countries have equal but differentiated responsibilities, but most importantly, both groups of countries have binding, time-targeted and measurable commitments.
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Montreal protocol: Accomplishments of the most successful global climate treaty
- The Montreal Protocol mandated the complete phase-out of CFCs and other ozone-depleting substances (ODS), which it has successfully managed to do in the last three decades.
- The protocol was adopted in 1987, becoming the only United Nations treaty to be ratified by its 198 member-states.
- The Montreal Protocol has led to the phase-out of 99 per cent of ozone-depleting chemicals in refrigerators, air-conditioners and many other products.
- From 1989–2013, the protocol’s ban on certain chemicals reduced cumulative CO2-equivalent emissions by 135 billion tons.
- This effort has led to the healing of the ozone layer hole which, in turn, protects humans, economies, and ecosystems.
- Researchers believe that the size of the ozone hole has shrunk by around 4 million sq. km since 2000 and is not as deep as it used to be, thanks to the collective efforts of nations to cut the use of chlorofluorocarbons and other dangerous gases.
- At projected rates, Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitude ozone will heal completely by the 2030s. The Southern Hemisphere will follow in the 2050s and Polar Regions by 2060.
- The Montreal Protocol offers a model of a successful environmental treaty that brought nations together to act swiftly on protecting the ozone layer.
- In 2016, Nations that were party to the protocol got together in Kigali, Rwanda, to discuss the phasing down of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) as the next step towards addressing ozone depletion, also necessary to curb global warming.
- Kigali Amendment to Montreal Protocol came into effect in 2019.
Key takeaways from Montreal protocol which acts as an example for other global initiatives
- Comprehensive negotiations: From the start, negotiation relied heavily on leadership and innovative approaches. Much negotiation was held in small, informal groups. This enabled a genuine exchange of views and the opportunity to take some issues on trust, such as the subsequent development of the Multilateral Fund. The people negotiating the treaty also included scientists, which lent credibility.
- Universal consensus:The Montreal Protocol is the only universal UN Agreement, signed by 196 states and the EU. It has more signatories than any other international agreement or body, including the United Nations itself.
- The Montreal Protocol also called for Multilateral Fund, established in 1990, which was “basically money contributed by developed countries and renewed periodically that paid developing countries and developing country industries to make the switches to the new generations of chemicals,
- The idea of using trade policy as a punishment mechanism: Due to this readily definable cause and effect relationship, the Montreal Protocol was able to establish strong enforcement provisions as well as strong commitments.
- Adjustment provision:The science was not definite at the time of adoption of the Montreal protocol, so the negotiators developed a highly flexible instrument which could increase or decrease controls as the science became clearer. This flexibility meant the protocol could be amended to include stricter controls: more ozone-depleting substances added to the control list and total phase-out, rather than partial phase-out, called for.
- Developing countries are given more time tocomply with the phase out decisions, and also they receive funding from the Multilateral Fund to facilitate compliance with the Protocol’s provisions.
Conclusion
The Montreal Protocol provides us with a good model of the future, showing a successful execution of international environmental policy. Sure, the Montreal Protocol differs from the Paris Agreement, but we can only stand to gain from studying the former’s success. There’s still time to reach a manageable and sustainable future, but to do that, we must pull out all the stops. That includes learning from our past.
Introduction
The term “metaverse” is used to describe the vision whereby the internet will evolve into a virtual world. The idea was first conceptualised in 1992 by the American novelist Neal Stephenson in his science fiction classic, Snow Crash. It foresees the internet as a 3D virtual living space, where individuals dip in and out, interacting with one another in real time.
The metaverse is a form of mixed reality that is fast becoming commonplace in everyday tech products. The combination of augmented and virtual reality will not only introduce digital elements in the real world, but it will also merge Internet with the virtual world.
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Potential of Metaverse
- Metaverse will incorporate current Meta products, like WhatsApp and Messenger, but also offer plenty of new tools like virtual homes, offices, and ecommerce opportunities for businesses and content creators.
- In Meta’s metaverse imagining, users will have complete creative control over their virtual worlds, designing everything from waterfront homes to space stations where you can work collaboratively, chat with friends, or study.
- Using VR, AR, and our current tech tools, the metaverse will combine both the physical and digital worlds.
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg believes augmented reality glasses will eventually be as widespread as smartphones. If that is the case, this will be a very big market.
- Huge scope in the development of software applications to support the meta-verse ecosystem.
- Heightened sales of physical goods and services will be linked to the virtual ecosystem in the future.
- Immersive Learning is a training methodology that uses Virtual Reality (VR) to simulate real-world scenarios and train students in a safe and engaging immersive training environment.
- Decentralized commerce (dCommerce) in-world transactions to happen peer-to-peer.
- Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) – the claim of ownership for a unique, non-interchangeable digital asset that is stored on a blockchain – may be widely adopted.
Challenges posed by Metaverse:
- The metaverse requires infrastructure that currently does not exist, and the current form of Internet is limited in its design to hold the digital space. The space will need a broader and more complex set of standards and protocols than traditional Internet. This means large technology companies like Amazon, Google, and Facebook will need to prepare for cross integrating their systems.
- Unlike the internet, which was built using patient capital, the metaverse will most likely be created by big tech companies, giving rise to concerns of walled gardens and cartelization.
- That said, it is clear that if the metaverse is to become as ubiquitous as the internet, it needs to remain open so that everyone can participate in it.
- The interoperable metaverse could also raise questions of data protection since industry-wide consensus on data security and persistence will be harder to establish.
- One of the key features of the metaverse will be its ability to replicate the physical world within its virtual environment.
- The creation of these mirror-worlds will call for mega-scans of our physical surroundings—enormous centimetre-resolution images of the physical world that we can render within the metaverse to faithfully recreate our physical environs in a virtual space.
- The metaverse will need altogether new rules for censorship, control of communications, regulatory enforcement, tax reporting, the prevention of online radicalisation, and many more challenges that we’re still struggling with today.
- It’s hard not to then start thinking about how these new technologies will shape our society, politics and culture, and how we might fit into that future.
- This idea is called “technological determinism”: the sense that advances in technology shape our social relations, power relations, and culture, with us as mere passengers. It leaves out the fact that in a democratic society we have a say in how all of this plays out.
- Another element of the metaverse that is still being worked out is its payment rails. While cryptocurrencies are widely touted as the ideal payment system of the metaverse, it is unlikely that they will be able to operate at the velocity at which transactions are likely to occur in these virtual environments.
Way forward for India:
- To achieve this, we will need to agree on a set of open standards that govern its essential aspects, ensuring interoperability across environments.
- We may ultimately need to pass regulation to ensure that other aspects of the metaverse—the devices we use to interface with it, the payment systems that drive its economy and the portals that connect the virtual world to the physical—comply with open protocols framed to ensure that we are not locked into any single device or service provider.
- India needs to put in place regulations that encourage the development of these new virtual environments while ensuring that they can still function in an open, interoperable manner.
- If this is the next evolution of internet technology, we should ensure that the many features it is likely to offer are deployed to our advantage.
- India’s digital payments platforms, on the other hand, have demonstrated that they can operate at population scale—processing 10 billion transactions a month without breaking a sweat.
Conclusion
A new iteration of the internet is being worked on and this will have massive implications for society. Marketing, communications, and branding professionals will face new challenges but also new opportunities. This new era of the metaverse will unleash amazing creativity and open up new frontiers and horizons for brands and businesses.
India was a relatively late adopter of the internet, and, as a result, was unable to take advantage of its many features until much later. We have an extraordinary opportunity now to actively participate in the development of the metaverse. We would do well to dive right in.
Introduction
The Union Cabinet’s decision to set aside ₹76,000 crore for supporting the development of a ‘semiconductors and display manufacturing ecosystem’ is a belated but welcome acknowledgment of the strategic significance of integrated circuits, or chips, to a modern economy.
The Cabinet decision to simultaneously establish an India Semiconductor Mission helmed by ‘global industry experts’ to drive long-term strategies for the sustainable development of the chip and display industry is therefore a step in the right direction.
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Various applications of Semiconductors and reasons for their shortage
- Semiconductors and displays are the foundation of modern electronics driving the next phase of digital transformation under Industry 4.0. Semiconductors and display manufacturing is very complex and technology-intensive sector involving huge capital investments, high risk, long gestation and payback periods, and rapid changes in technology, which require significant and sustained investments.
- The program will give an impetus to semiconductor and display manufacturing by facilitating capital support and technological collaborations.
- The basic building blocks that serve as the heart and brain of all modern electronics and information and communications technology products, the ubiquitous chips are now an integral part of contemporary automobiles, household gadgets such as refrigerators, and essential medical devices such as ECG machines.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically thrown into sharp relief the vulnerability that a range of manufacturing industries and, by extension, national economies are exposed to in the face of disruptions in the supply of these vital semiconductors.
- The pandemic-driven push to take sizeable parts of daily economic and essential activity online, or at least digitally enable them, has also highlighted the centrality of the chip-powered computers and smartphones in people’s lives.
- With the bulk of semiconductor manufacturing and supply capability concentrated in a handful of countries including Taiwan, South Korea, U.S., Japan and, more recently, China, governments worldwide have realised that it is in the national interest to treat chip manufacturing as a strategic imperative.
Salient features of India Semiconductor Mission
- Semiconductor Fabs and Display Fabs:
- It would provide fiscal support of up to 50% of the project cost for setting up semiconductor and display fabrication units.
- The Union government will work with the States to set up high-tech clusters with the required infrastructure such as land and semiconductor-grade water.
- Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL):
- MeitY will take requisite steps for modernization and commercialization of Semi-conductor Laboratory (SCL).
- MeitY will explore the possibility for the Joint Venture of SCL with a commercial fab partner to modernise the brownfield fab facility.
- Compound Semiconductors:
- It will support fiscal support of 30% of capital expenditure to approved units.
- At Least 15 such units of Compound Semiconductors and Semiconductor Packaging are expected to be established with Government support under this scheme.
- Semiconductor Design Companies:
- The Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme shall extend product design linked incentive of up to 50% of eligible expenditure and product deployment linked incentive of 6% – 4% on net sales for five years.
- Support will be provided to 100 domestic companies of semiconductor design for Integrated Circuits (ICs), Chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems & IP Cores and semiconductor linked design.
- India Semiconductor Mission:
- In order to drive the long-term strategies for developing a sustainable semiconductors and display ecosystem, a specialised and independent India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) will be set up.
- ISM will be led by global experts in the semiconductor and display industry. It will act as the nodal agency for efficient and smooth implementation of the schemes on Semiconductors and Display ecosystem.
- Production Linked Incentives:
- Incentive support to the tune of Rs.55,392 crore (7.5 billion USD) have been approved under PLI for Largest Scale Electronics Manufacturing, PLI for IT Hardware, SPECS Scheme and Modified Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC 2.0) Scheme.
- In addition, PLI incentives to the quantum of Rs.98,000 crore (USD 13 billion) are approved for allied sectors comprising ACC battery, auto components, telecom & networking products, solar PV modules and white goods.
Limitations of the above and measures to overcome them.
- For one, the level of fiscal support currently envisioned is minuscule when one considers the scale of investments typically required to set up manufacturing capacities in the various sub sectors of the semiconductor industry.
- A semiconductor fabrication facility, or fab, can cost multiples of a billion dollars to set up even on a relatively small scale and lagging by a generation or two behind the latest in technology.
- Even granting that India’s Production Linked Incentive scheme intends to give only 50% of the cost of setting up at least two greenfield semiconductor fabs by way of fiscal support, not much of the current scheme outlay of approximately $10 billion is likely to be left to support other elements including display fabs, packaging and testing facilities, and chip design centres.
- Chip fabs are also very thirsty units requiring millions of litres of clean water and extremely stable power supply.
- India has a decent chip design talent but it never built up chip fab capacity. The ISRO and the DRDO have their respective fab foundries but they are primarily for their own requirements and also not as sophisticated as the latest in the world.
- It may be best if the new mission focuses fiscal support, for now, on other parts of the chip-making chain including design, where surely India already has considerable talent and experience.
Way Forward:
- Given the long gestation periods and rapid technology changes, India must out-strategize on design and functionality as the end product will be out only after three-four years from the moment work begins, by which point the prevailing chip shortage would have been resolved, while technology would have advanced further.
- India needs to push for a Quad Supply Chain Resilience Fund to immunise the supply chain from geopolitical and geographic risks
- India and Taiwan have started negotiations for a free-trade agreement and setting up a semiconductor manufacturing hub in an Indian city, signalling their resolve to further expand the two-way economic engagement.
Conclusion:
The program will usher in a new era in electronics manufacturing by providing a globally competitive incentive package to companies in semiconductors and display manufacturing as well as design. The program will promote higher domestic value addition in electronics manufacturing and will contribute significantly to achieving a USD 1 Trillion digital economy and a USD 5 Trillion GDP by 2025. This shall pave the way for India’s technological leadership in these areas of strategic importance and economic self-reliance.
Introduction
Wetlands are ecotones between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They get periodically get inundated with water. They support a flourishing community of aquatic organisms including frogs and other amphibians. Swamps, marshes and mangroves are examples of wetlands. Wetlands are indispensable for the countless benefits or “ecosystem services” that they provide humanity, ranging from freshwater supply, food and building materials, and biodiversity, to flood control, groundwater recharge, and climate change mitigation.
The total number of Ramsar sites in India are 46 in the country. Wetlands declared as Ramsar sites are protected under strict guidelines.
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Critical role played by Wetlands in the Ecological conservation of Earth:
- Carbon Sequestration: Swamps, mangroves, peat lands, mires and marshes play an important role in carbon cycle. Wetland soils may contain as much as 200 times more carbon than its vegetation.
- g.: In India, coastal wetlands are playing a major role in carbon sequestration. The total extent of coastal ecosystems (including mangroves) in India is around 43000 km. Overall, mangroves are able to sequester about 1.5 metric tonne of carbon per hectare per year and the upper layers of mangrove sediments have high carbon content, with conservative estimates indicating the levels of 10 percent.
- Flood attenuation: Wetlands function as natural sponges that trap and slowly release surface water, rain, snowmelt, groundwater and flood waters. Many water-stressed regions in South Africa are subject to high intensity rainfall over very short periods, often resulting in flash floods. Wetlands are effective in spreading out and slowing down floodwaters, thereby reducing the severity of floods downstream.
- g.: A large network of lakes and ponds in major cities like Srinagar, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad were constructed with the objective of flood control
- Regulation of stream flow & groundwater recharge: wetlands are often compared to sponges, in their ability to absorb water in wet periods, and release it during dry periods. The absorption thus helps in groundwater recharging too.
- g.: floodplains of rivers like Ganga and Brahmaputra
- Nutrient assimilation & recycling: removal by the wetland of phosphates and nitrates carried by runoff water. This takes place through the presence of wetland vegetation and the action of anaerobic bacteria (which would otherwise not exist in fast-flowing, energized streams or rivers). Thus, they help in nutrients recycling and they carry out water purification by filtration of sediments and nutrients from surface water.
- Erosion control: wetlands can limit the extent of erosion, predominantly through the protection provided by vegetation, and through their ability to reduce stream flow velocity. Buffer (act as a riparian buffer) shorelines against erosion and pollutants.
- g.: the mangroves along the sea shores, especially on the western coast in West Bengal and Odisha have been playing a major role in protecting the coastal environment from the destruction of cyclones that frequently emanate in the Bay of Bengal.
- Microclimate regulation: Wetland ecosystems play an important role in regulating local and regional climates through evaporative cooling effects that affect the exchange of energy and water with atmosphere.
- g.: For every land cover type in wetlands, vegetation has a better stabilizing effect on temperature, whereas a water body has a better stabilizing effect on wind speed and humidity. Dal lake in Kashmir has a cooling effect on surroundings.
- Promotes Biodiversity: Wetlands are important in supporting species diversity. Because wetlands provide an environment where photosynthesis can occur and where the recycling of nutrients can take place, they play a significant role in the support of food chains.
- g.: In India lakes, rivers and other freshwater bodies support a large diversity of biota representing almost all taxonomic groups. For example, freshwater ecosystems of Western Ghats alone have 290 species of fish. Similarly, Loktak Lake is famous for being the only refuge of the endangered Sangai (Manipur brow-antlered deer).
- Productive Ecosystem: Wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems in the world, comparable to rain forests and coral reefs. An immense variety of species of microbes, plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds, fish and mammals can be part of a wetland ecosystem.
- g.: In many such wetland areas of India, like Bharatpur wild life sanctuary in Rajasthan, and little Rann of Kutch and coastal areas of Saurashtra in Gujarat, many migratory species of birds, including siberian crane, from western and European countries come during winter.
- Promotes Genetic diversity: They act as a genetic reservoir for various species of plants, especially rice.
- Tourism: Wet-lands such as coral reefs, beaches, reservoirs, lakes and rivers are considered to be a significant part of the tourism experience in the country.
- For instance, as per an estimate, every year, around seven million tourist visit Kerala’s backwaters, beaches and wildlife sanctuaries, 3 million visit Uttarakhand’s lakes and other natural wetlands and one million visit Dal lake in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Cultural Significance: Wetlands especially lakes and ponds are intrinsically linked to the local culture. They are revered by the masses in recognition of the fact that they are the means of sustenance of their livelihood.
- g. Pushkar lake in Rajasthan and Ramappa lake in Telangana
Measures needed
- Protection: The primary necessity today is to protect the existing wetlands. Of the many wetlands in India only around 68 wetlands are protected. But there are thousands of other wetlands that are biologically and economically important but have no legal status.
- Planning, managing and monitoring: Wetlands that come under the Protected area network have management plans but others do not. It is important for various stakeholders along with the local community and corporate sector to come together for an effective management plan. Active monitoring of these wetland systems over a period of time is essential.
- Comprehensive inventory: There has been no comprehensive inventory of all the Indian wetlands despite the efforts by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Asian Wetland Bureau and World Wide Fund for Nature. The inventory should involve the flora, fauna, and biodiversity along with values. It should take into account the various stakeholders in the community too.
- Legislation: Although several laws protect wetlands there is no special legislation pertaining specially to these ecosystems. Environment Impact Assessment needed for major development projects highlighting threats to wetlands need to be formulated.
- Coordinated approach: Since wetlands are common property with multi-purpose utility, their protection and management also need to be a common responsibility.
- Research: There is a necessity for research in the formulation of national strategy to understand the dynamics of these ecosystems. This could be useful for the planners to formulate strategies for the mitigation of pollution.
- Building awareness: For achieving any sustainable success in the protection of these wetlands, awareness among the general public, educational and corporate institutions must be created.
Conclusion
Communities engage with wetlands in various ways – from seeking livelihoods to spiritual fulfilment. The values community hold for wetlands are expressed in diverse ways. It is important to integrate community linkages in wetlands management planning, and incentivize community stewardship. This is crucial as over 85% of wetlands in India are in the form of village ponds and tanks.
Answer the following questions in 250 words:
General Studies – 1
Introduction
The Union Cabinet on December 15 took the decision to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. The legal age of marriage for men is 21 years. With this decision, the government will be bringing the age of marriage for both men and women at par. The proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 was based on the recommendations of a task force headed by Jaya Jaitley.
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Background
- In June 2020, the Ministry for Women and Child Development set up a task force to look into the correlation between the age of marriage with issues of women’s nutrition, prevalence of anaemia, IMR, MMR and other social indices.
- The committee, headed by former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitly, also had on board NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul and secretaries of several ministries.
- The committee has recommended the age of marriage be increased to 21 years, on the basis of feedback they received from young adults from 16 universities across the country. Over 15 NGOs were also engaged to reach out to young adults in far-flung areas and marginalised communities.
Raising marriageable age for women: Reasons
- Nutrition levels and wellbeing: The government decided to re-examine the age of marriage for women for a number of reasons, including gender-neutrality. An early age of marriage, and consequent early pregnancies, also have impacts on nutritional levels of mothers and their children, and their overall health and mental wellbeing.
- Mortality rate: It also has an impact on Infant Mortality Rate and Maternal Mortality Rate, and the empowerment of women who are cut off from access to education and livelihood after an early marriage.
- To reduce child marriage: The recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS) revealed that child marriage has come down marginally from 27 per cent in 2015-16 to 23 per cent in 2019-20 in the country, but the government has been pushing to bring this down further.
- Gender neutrality: Women Labour force participation is only 25% in India whereas the global average is 60%, to become world power, we cannot afford women to be out of service.
- There is a need to bring in gender-neutrality.
- Removing stereotypes: In a consultation paper of reform in family law in 2018, the Law Commission argued that having different legal standards “contributes to the stereotype that wives must be younger than their husbands”.
- Women’s rights activists too have argued that the law perpetuates the stereotype that women are more mature than men of the same age and therefore can be allowed to marry sooner.
Criticism against the move
- Child and women’s rights activists, as well as population and family planning experts have not been in favour of increasing the age of marriage for women on the basis that such a legislation would push a large portion of the population into illegal marriages.
- They have contended that even with the legal age of marriage for women being kept at 18 years, child marriages continue in India and a decrease in such marriages has not been because of the existing law but because of increase in girl’s education and employment opportunities.
- They have said the law would end up being coercive, and in particular negatively impact marginalised communities, such as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, making them law-breakers.
- According to the State of the World Report 2020 by UNFPA, in India, 51% of young women with no education and 47% of those with only a primary education had married by age 18.
- Hence lack of education is a bigger problem.
- Further, a study by the International Centre for Research on Women has found that girls out of school are 3.4 times more likely to be married or have their marriage already fixed than girls who are still in school.
Way forward and conclusion
- For any society to make sustainable progress it is necessary to empower women and for that two most important weapons are quality of education and skills and for this they should not be under any pressure to get married early.
- Early pregnancy is associated with increased child mortality rates and affects the health of the mother. Thus, there is a need to focus on a mother’s health and readiness to carry a child.
- Government needs to emphasize upon economic and social empowerment of women and girls, as well as targeted social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) campaigns. Increasing the minimum age of marriage of women will also lead to gender-neutrality.
- Extending the scope of the Right to Education for girls up to vocational studies.
Introduction
Cities across the world contribute about 80% of global gross domestic product. They are drivers of growth and dense labour marketplaces. However, recent developments have highlighted the severe economic, humanitarian and ecological repercussions of the unbalanced and unbridled growth of urban spaces.
This ‘cost’ of urban growth is evident in floods that occur in several parts of India. Unbalanced development has made cities more vulnerable to environmental shocks that get more frequent and intense
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Background
- From a population of 377 million in 2011, Indian cities are projected to house 870 million people by 2050, according to the UN’s projections — by far the highest among all nations.
- Delhi is likely to become the world’s most populous urban agglomeration by 2030, surpassing Tokyo.
- India is home to 11% of the total global urban population.
- By 2027, India will surpass China as the most populous country in the world.
- Unplanned urbanization, however, exerts great strain on our cities.
- In fact, the Covid-19 pandemic has revealed the dire need for the planning and management of our cities.
- The existing urban planning and governance framework is complex, which often leads to ambiguity and lack of accountability.
Challenges faced by urban centres
- Risks to cities from climate change: A World Resources Institute India report notes temperature rise and flooding as two key risks to Mumbai, with possibility of 70-80% submergence of key parts of the city by 2050.
- Extreme flooding events and droughts are becoming frequent. Eg: Chennai floods in 2021.
- Pandemic and distress migration: The pandemic itself threw light on the implications of a systemic health shock—an exodus of city residents who moved to the safety of their homes. This mass movement of labour paralysed industrial units, apart from civic and other services in cities.
- Inadequate affordable housing has meant that almost one-sixth of the urban population lives in slums.
- High population density: On the one hand, the rural-urban migration accelerates the pace of urbanisation, on the other, it creates excessive population pressure on the existing public utilities.
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- Consequently, the cities suffer from the problems of slums, crime, unemployment, urban poverty, pollution, congestion, ill-health and several deviant social activities.
- Water supply is unreliable. Groundwater has been exploited unabated, without proper measures to recharge the water table.
- Mountains of solid waste sit on the fringes of our cities. Even today, waste segregation and recycling are poor due to lack of implementation and behaviour of people.
- Poor drainage, congested roads and deteriorating air quality are other challenges.
- Estimates by a high-powered expert committee and by the McKinsey Global Institute indicated in 2011-12 that nearly Rs 39-60 lakh crore are to be invested in urban infrastructure in the next 30 years.
- These amounts are outside the range of what the public budget can support.
For our growth ambitions to succeed, not only do these gaps have to be filled, but even greater needs, necessitated by the growing population, have to be accommodated.
Local governments and their role in urban areas
- Praja’s Urban Governance Index offers some insights. According to its framework, an empowered city government is the first step towards building equitable and sustainable cities.
- The index consists of four themes: 1) Empowered city-elected representatives and legislative structure; 2) Empowered city administration; 3) Empowered citizens; and 4) Fiscal empowerment.
- Institutionalizing this at scale may need a combination of structural changes, fiscal incentives and active citizen participation.
- First, Centre could invest in building capacity of those empowered to make decisions on our behalf.
- Municipal councillors are critical in this journey, given their structured participation in city processes and better understanding of available resources and citizen needs.
- Next, one must enhance the understanding citizens have of a city’s working and their ability to be a part of local governance.
- Finally, technology can be the connective tissue that enables a data-based dialogue between local governments and the citizenry.
- This can be turned into a city data hub that is easily accessible to citizens and municipal employees for grievance redressal, or for sharing information on government services.
- A “phygital” layer and involvement of the Central Statistics Office will be critical to drive adoption.
Conclusion
Our health and environment emergencies have helped reiterate an urgent need to invest in resilience that urban elected representatives, the bureaucracy and citizens must take note of. There is also a realization that elected local governments, citizens and technology can work together, like they did for vaccine rollouts and to tackle the spread of covid. Resiliency can be built if citizens and local councillors together work towards sustainable living in the cities.
Introduction
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has formulated the SMILE scheme for Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise. It includes a sub scheme – ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in Begging’. This holds significance especially for transgender community where majority are involved in begging.
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Background
- According to the Census 2011 total number of beggars in India is 4,13,670 (including 2,21,673 males and 1,91,997 females) and the number has increased from the last census.
- West Bengal tops the chart followed by Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at number two and three respectively.
- Lakshadweep merely has two vagrants according to the 2011 census.
- Among the union territories, New Delhi had the largest number of beggars 2,187 followed by 121 in Chandigarh.
- Among the north-eastern states, Assam topped the chart with 22,116 beggars, while Mizoram ranked low with 53 beggars.
SMILE: Ending history of marginalisation
- Comprehensive measures: This scheme covers several comprehensive measures including welfare measures for persons who are engaged in the act of begging.
- The focus of the scheme is extensively on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, basic documentation, education, skill development, economic linkages and so on.
- Beneficiaries: Persons engaged in the act of Begging are to be covered under the scheme.
- Total funds allocated for the scheme for next five years is 100 crores.
- Initial implementation: Ministry had identified 10 cities for undertaking pilot project on Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in the act of Begging.
- Currently, pilot project is ongoing in 7 cities namely Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur and Patna.
- Collaboration with other agencies: These pilots are being implemented with the support of State Governments/UTs/Local Urban Bodies and Voluntary Organizations etc., which provide comprehensive measures including survey and identification, mobilization, rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, awareness generation, counselling, education, skill development and sustainable settlement of persons engaged in begging.
More measures are needed for transgender community
- A multi-prolonged approach with focus on public awareness campaigns is needed to eliminate the social stigma associated with the transgender community.
- Eg: Recently 13 members of the transgender community have been selected as constables under the Chhattisgarh police. This is truly historic and thrilling for a community that had no legal recognition till the Supreme Court in NALSA vs. Union of India (2014) ruled that transgender persons have the right to decide their self-identified gender.
- Large scale sensitization needs to happen starting from the school level to accept the transgender community integral component of societal life.
- Transgenders’ induction into the police force is a vital message to people that they are as physically and mentally competent as others.
- Legal and the law enforcement systems need to be empowered and sensitized on the issues of Transgender community.
- Stringent criminal and disciplinary action must be taken against the people who commits violence against Transgender.
- The establishment of National Council for Transgender Persons which seeks to increase awareness and inculcate sense of respect and acceptance for transgender community, is a welcome step.
- Transgender Persons Act, 2019: The Act states that a transgender person shall have the right to self-perceived gender identity. The Act prohibits discrimination against a transgender person in various sectors such as education, employment, and healthcare etc. It will give much needed legal protection to the transgenders.
Conclusion
Schemes, Policies and regulation alone won’t help, rather there is a need to increase awareness and inculcate sense of respect and acceptance for transgender community. Their grievance of being not included in policies formulation or decision making needs to be allayed and chances for their public participation should increase.
General Studies – 2
Introduction
The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women defines “violence against women” as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.”
The Maharashtra Assembly passed the Shakti Criminal Laws (Maharashtra Amendment) Act unanimously. With the passage of the Bill, it became the second state in India after Andhra Pradesh to approve death penalty for heinous offences of rape and gangrape.
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Violence against women:
- The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) suggests that 30 percent women in India in the age group of 15-49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
- The report further reveals that 6 percent women in the same age group have experienced sexual violence at least once in their lifetime.
- About 31 percent of married women have experienced physical, sexual or emotional violence by their spouses.
- India’s average rate of reported rape cases is about 6.3 per 100,000 of the population. However, this differs in places like Sikkim and Delhi, which have rates of 30.3 and 22.5, respectively, while Tamil Nadu has a rate of less than one.
Rationale behind death penalty
- The punishment is not arbitrarybecause, it comes out of a judicial process. To call it arbitrary, one has to necessarily prove the process as flawed.
- It is being implemented in the “rarest of the rare” casesand the fact is during the last 13 years, only four people have been executed.
- The hanging of Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon strongly affirms India’s commitment to the protection of life.
- People criticise it on arbitrariness, irreversibility and human rightsand these are not valid arguments.
- Its constitutionality is upheld, even in liberal democracies like U.S. It is not reflection of uncivilised society.
- India’s neighbourhood is not peaceful, unlike Scandinavia. It is not in a group of countries, like European Union.
- India has got troubled borders. Several forces are trying to destabilise the very idea of our Nation from across the Border.
- The sacredness of life can only be seen to be protected, if those who take it away are proportionately punished.
Efficiency of death penalty
- A study by the Centre of Death Penalty – at the National Law University Delhi (NLUD) — in 2015 analyzed data of 15 years to conclude that less than 5 per cent death penalties awarded by trial courts were confirmed by the time the cases passed the tests in high courts and the Supreme Court.
- Another NLU Delhi study found that 162 death sentences were awarded across the country in 2018. Only 23 were confirmed by the high courts.
- The Supreme Court heard 12 death penalty cases in 2018 but confirmed death penalty in only one case – of Nirbhaya gangrape and murder.
- The Justice JS Verma committee, appointed after the Nirbhaya case, too had examined the efficiency of death penalty for rape. In its report, Justice Verma did not prescribe death penalty for rape for the lack of correlation in preventing the crime of rape or gangrape.
Death Penalty is not the panacea
- It unfairly targets poor and marginalised, that means, those without money & power.
- Executions occurred in around five cases for every 1 lakh murdersand it looks quite arbitrary. It depends on judges personal beliefs.
- India’s murder rate has declinedcontinuously since 1991 and at present the lowest, except for 1963.
- Punishment should not imitate crime.
- As per the recent Death Penalty India Report by the National Law University, Delhi, the structural flaws in our criminal procedure and criminal justice system are most pronounced in death penalty cases.
- Most of the civilised world abolished it. Death penalty has not deterred terrorism, murder or even theft.
- From 200-2015, Supreme Court imposed 60 death sentencesand subsequently admitted that it had erred in 15 of them. So, it clearly admitted that it has arbitrarily imposed the most extreme punishment.
- The Police is not known for its probity or efficiencyin our Country.
- Delays in the Criminal Justice System disproportionately affects those, who suffer the tyranny of the uncertainty of their life.
Measures needed
- Law Commission in its 262nd report submitted recently recommended the abolition of capital punishment for all crimes in India, except the crime of waging war against the nation or for terrorism-related offences.
- It cited several factors to justify abolishing the death penalty, including its abolition by 140 other nations, its arbitrary and flawed application and its lack of any proven deterring effect on criminals.
Way forward
- Addressing the deeply entrenched patriarchal attitudes of the police, lawyer and other judicial officers that continues to contribute to low reporting and conviction rates.
- Bridging the gap between GBV laws and its correlated areas such as legal rights to property, land, inheritance, employment and income that allows a woman to walk out of an abusive relationship and specific emphasis on political and economic participation of women.
- Systematic intervention for multisectoral linkages between Health sector (medical and psychosocial support), Social Welfare sector (Shelters, counselling and economic support/skill), Legal (legal aid)
- Not just engage with “men and boys” as change agents but also acknowledge the expectations linked to masculinity, their position as victim of violence especially for young boys to address the perpetuation of cycle of GBV.
- Recognize sexual and reproductive health and rights by promotion and protection of women’s right to have control and decide freely over matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, family-planning choices and access to comprehensive sexuality education.
- Reclaiming the spaces for women to increase their presence in visibility through political and economic participation and diversifying their engagement in nontraditional sectors.
- Use of technology and emerging concepts such as Smart City in urban policy for ensuring safer and gender friendly infrastructures and spaces that prevents GBV.
Introduction
The Supreme Court has reserved its judgment on petitions challenging the validity of amendments introduced in 2020 to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010, aimed at tightening the curbs on NGOs allowed to receive foreign funds. While NGOs that have termed the amendments as harsh and arbitrary, the Government has argued that its intended to streamline the flow of funds and to enhance transparency and accountability.
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India has nearly 3.4 million NGOs, working in a variety of fields ranging from disaster relief to advocacy for marginalised and disadvantaged communities. There the role and responsibilities are immense in developing country like India, which can listed as follows:
- Bridging The Gap:NGOs endeavour to plug gaps in the government’s programmes and reach out to sections of people often left untouched by state projects. For example, providing aid to migrant workers in Covid-19 crisis.
- Also, they are engaged in diverse activities, relating to human and labour rights, gender issues, healthcare, environment, education, legal aid, and even research.
- Role of an Enabler:Community-level outfits and self-help groups are critical for bringing any change in the ground
- Acting as a Pressure Group:There are political NGOs that mobilise public opinion against government’s policies and actions.
- The Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy in its report has pointed out that there will not only be an increase in school dropouts and child marriages but also a decrease in immunisation and access to healthcare due to the economic downturn economic downturn induced by Covid-19.
Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment, 2020:
- It seeks to prohibit ‘public servants’ from receiving any foreign funding.
- It proposes to reduce the use of foreign funds to meet administrative costs by NGOs from the existing 50 per cent to 20 per cent.
- It seeks to “prohibit any transfer of foreign contribution to any association/person”.
- It proposes to make Aadhaar cards a mandatory identification document for all office-bearers, directors and other key functionaries of NGOs or associations eligible to receive foreign donations.
- It seeks to allow for the central government to hold a summary inquiry to direct bodies with FCRA approval to “not utilise the unutilised foreign contribution or receive the remaining portion of foreign contribution”.
- And to limit the use of foreign funds for administrative purposes. This would impact research and advocacy organisations which use the funding to meet their administrative costs.
Government Guidelines for NGO’s and issues
- The amendments to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) enacted last year that among others made it compulsory for NGOs to open a bank account in Delhi has crippledthe work of many organisations who are unable to receive foreign funds.
- The amendments have made the FCRA, 2010 more stringent, with prohibition of transfer of funds from one NGO to another, decrease of administrative expensesthrough foreign funds from 50 per cent to 20 per cent, making Aadhaar mandatory for registration, and giving the government powers to stop utilisation of foreign funds through a “summary enquiry”.
- Registered NGOs can receive foreign contribution for five purposes — social, educational, religious, economic and cultural. An FCRA registration is mandatory for NGOs to receive foreign funds. There are 22,591 FCRA registered NGOs.
- The petitioner argued that it applied to open the account before the March 31 deadline but the administrative delays on the part of the bank and the Ministry severely restricted its activities including providing COVID-19 related relief and paying of urgent salaries of staff and also affected its charitable and educational activities.
- Any organisation seeking registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) must have operated for at least three years and spent “a minimum amount of Rs 15 lakh on its core activities for the benefit of society during the last three financial years”.
- Any organisation seeking prior permission for receiving a “specific amount from a specific donor for carrying out specific activities or projects” shall “submit a specific commitment letter from the donor indicating the amount of foreign contribution and the purpose for which it is proposed to be given”.
- The Centre has said that if the value of foreign contribution is over Rs 1 crore, it may be given in instalments “provided that the second and subsequent instalment shall be released after submission of proof of utilisation of 75 per cent of the foreign contribution received in the previous instalment and after field inquiry of the utilisation of foreign contribution.”
- In the newly notified rules, the Centre has made an insertion in Rule 9 – which deals with obtaining registration or prior permission to receive foreign funds – which makes the process more cumbersome for NGOs.
Conclusion
The legislation will have far-reaching consequences on the fields of education, health, people’s livelihoods, gender justice and indeed democracy in India. There is no denying the fact that there are black sheep in the sector. But sincere adherence to the existing framework could easily weed them out. The new laws will overload the NGOs with new bureaucratic tasks and open the floodgates for arbitrary action by the authorities.
Introduction
India is a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic and Republic country which follows the Parliamentary form of government which is also known as Westminster model of government or Cabinet government or Responsible government. This form of government is prevalent in Britain, Japan, Canada and India among others. Parliamentary system has been taken from the United Kingdom because U.K. constitution is the mother constitution of parliamentarianism.
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Major features of parliamentary form of government
- Bicameral legislature: System may be either bicameral (two houses of the parliament) or unicameral (single house of the parliament). India follows a bicameral legislature in which the members of the Lower House (Lok sabha) are elected by the people and members of Upper house (Rajya sabha) by elected representatives.
- The President can dissolve the Lok Sabha on recommendation of the Prime Minister while Rajya Sabha is a permanent house and cannot be dissolved.
- Nominal and Real Executives: There are two parts of the executive in India, nominal executive, and real executive. The President, the Head of the State is the nominal executive.
- Theoretically, the Constitution of India vested all the executive powers in the President of India. But, in practice, are actually used by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers. The Prime Minister is the real executive.
- Majority Party Rule: The party which wins majority seats in the elections of the Lower House forms the government. The President appoints the leader as the Prime Minister and the other ministers on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
- The President may invite a coalition of parties to form the government, in case no party got a clear majority.
- Collective Responsibility: The council of ministers is collectively responsible to the parliament. The lower house of parliament can dissolve the government by exercising the no confidence motion.
- Opposition: Party who gets the second highest vote counts in elections forms an opposition party. The opposition plays a crucial role in keeping a check on the ruling government.
- Secrecy: The members of the executive follow the principle of secrecy in official legal matters of the country. Ministers take oaths of secrecy before entering their office.
Advantages of parliamentary form of government
- Better coordination between the administration and the legislation: Since the administration is part of the legislation, and most legislatures generally support the government, it is easier to pass laws and implement them.
- Prevent authoritarianism:since the executive branch is accountable to the legislature and can vote against it with motions of no confidence, there is no authoritarianism. Also, unlike a presidential system, power will not be concentrated in one hand.
- Participatory and inclusive decision-making.
- Responsible government ministers are accountable to Parliament for their actions. Tools: time for questions, debates, motions for adjournment, motions of no confidence.
- Be prepared to replace the government if you lose majority support. “The leader of the opposition party is the deputy prime minister” Jennings.
- Representation of different groups:In this system, the parliament provides representation for different groups in the country. This is especially important for countries like India.
- Flexibility: The system is flexible because the PM can be easily changed as needed. During World War II, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was replaced by Winston Churchill. This is different from the presidential system, which can only be replaced after the entire term or in the event of impeachment.
Reasons for India to adopt parliamentary system of Government:
- By the time of constitution framing, India already had some experience of the parliamentary system under the Government of India Act 1919 and 1935. So Indian people were familiar with it.
- This experience also showed that the executives can be effectively controlled by the representatives of the people.
- The makers of the constitution wanted to make the government responsible to people’s demands and should be accountable to them.
- The makers were reluctant to go for the presidential system as it gives excessive powers to the president who works independently with the legislature.
- The presidential system is also prone to the personality cult of the president.
- The makers of the constitution wanted to have a strong executive branch but with strong safeguards to avert the risk of a personality cult.
- In the parliamentary system, there are several mechanisms to make the executive more answerable to and controlled by the people’s representatives.
- So, the constitution adopted a parliamentary system for India.
Conclusion
As the representative body that checks the government’s activities, Parliament plays a crucial role in our democracy. It is critical for Parliament to function properly in order to fulfil its constitutional purpose.
General Studies – 3
Introduction
Self-help groups are informal groups of people who come together to address their common problems. These self-help groups consist of around 8-10 women who pool their savings and use the corpus to give credit to members to earn a living. They are promoted under the central Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM) launched in 2011 to empower women by providing them with easy access to credit. But in the last one year, they have gone beyond this role to do community work with funding from governments and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including tasks normally performed by health activists.
Recently, Prime Minister transferred ₹1,000 crore to bank accounts of self-help groups to benefit around 16 lakh women under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAY-NRLM).
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Work done by SHG’s during pandemic
- Nearly 76 million women in rural India had taken up self-help initiatives that proved instrumental in managing the food insecurity and healthcare challenges posed by the pandemic, an October 2020 report by the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy (IWWAGE) said.
- Since March 2020, and as per July 21 data from the DAY-NRLM dashboard, these groups have manufactured nearly 170 million masks, 500,000 pieces of protective equipment and 500,000 litres of sanitiser.
- Through community kitchens, they also served more than half a million cooked meals to people from vulnerable communities.
- To help deal with this crisis, self-help groups helped rural communities by distributing food and ration supplies and creating awareness.
Impact of COVID on SHGs
- With perennially scarce resources and a lack of funding, many NGOs are no longer able to provide capacity-building support to SHGs. As a result, the less-established SHGs are disintegrating.
- The NPAs of the SHG-BLP surged from ₹.423 crore in 2007-08 to ₹4,524 crore in 2018-19. This situation of bad loans will be further accentuated and dent the sustainability of SHG-BLP on account of Covid-19 pandemic if the SHGs do not convert the problems into opportunities.
- Despite increased activity, SHGs are having a hard time dealing with loss of income and rising debts as members deal with the economic impact of the pandemic, studies have found.
- Livelihood opportunities have been severely impacted due to the economic shock of Covid, especially its impact on non-farm livelihoods, in which a large section of women members of SHGs are involved.
- Self-help group members saw a higher borrowing rate (59%) against 42% women on average, a study of 15,000 women and 2,300 men from low-income households across 10 states conducted between October and November 2020 found. But members have been struggling to return their loans taken from SHGs.
- COVID has thrown many challenges to the members of SHGs with regard to conducting physical meeting, mobilising savings (physical currency notes) of the group, rotating the money for internal lending among the members, depositing the physical cash towards repayment of loans, and maintaining hard copy of records.
- Several rural women who were members of SHGs from different districts, claimed that their financial condition was affected by the pandemic, pushing them further into debt.
Way forward
- Given the adverse impact on the economy, there is an urgent need to think about new funding dedicated to crisis amelioration (perhaps through cash transfers), as well as an extended moratorium period or flexible repayment schedules for existing loans.
- Government or development sector stakeholders like the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development could help sustain and strengthen SHGs by federating them and helping them access the funding they need to increase their already significant impact on rural livelihoods.
- Federating would imply clustering the self-help groups together, which would give them a larger pool of savings to leverage, more negotiating power, and the benefits of economies of scale.
- Federating SHGs would also introduce greater transparency and professionalism to the groups, while requiring the simplification of their legal structures, allowing members to manage them without the need of hiring costly professionals.
- By embracing digital tech like e-banking, e-commerce and social media, SHGs can tide over the operational problems thrown up by the pandemic.
- Leading from the front, self-help groups have played a critical role in providing resilience for households during the pandemic and going forward, there is a heightened need for strengthening their links to institutions and creating a supportive ecosystem for them.
Conclusion
With the proper support, self-help groups can have an even greater impact, at a time when their women-centric, community-based approach is particularly needed. Government and development sector stakeholders should act now to strengthen this time-tested model: Women in India, and around the world, have never needed it more.
Introduction
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) means the responsibility of a producer for environmentally sound management of the product until the end of its life. In October, the Environment Ministry published draft regulations on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), set to come into effect by the end of this year. These regulations denote a backslide, particularly with respect to integration of the informal sector.
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Background
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) requires the manufacturer of a product, or the party that introduces the product into the community, to take responsibility for its life cycle.
- An FMCG company should not only account for the costs of making, packing and distributing a packet of chips, but also for the collection and recycling/reuse of the packet.
- In India, The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016-which is issued under Environment (Protection) Act, 1986- introduced the concept of EPR to manage plastics in India.
- The government has implemented the E-waste (Management) Rules (2016) which enforces the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
- Under EPR principle the producers have been made responsible to collect a certain percentage of E-waste generated from their goods once they have reached their “end-of-life”.
Issues with Extended producer Responsibility
- Informal work: By failing to mention waste pickers or outlining mechanisms for their incorporation under EPR, the guidelines are retrogressive. The EPR doesn’t take into account the formalization of informal waste pickers, aggregators and dismantlers.
- For decades, waste pickers, working in dangerous and unsanitary conditions, have picked up what we throw away.
- Besides, by diverting waste towards recycling and reuse, waste pickers also subsidise local governments responsible for solid waste management.
- Inclusion of various processes that are harmful: Processes like waste-to-energy, co-processing and incineration have been proven to release carbon dioxide, particulate matter, harmful dioxins and furans which have negative climate and health impacts.
- While the environmental impact and desirability of these processes continues to be debated, the draft regulations legitimise them to justify the continued production of multi-layered plastics.
- The EPR guidelines are limited to plastic packaging. There are other multi-material plastic items like sanitary pads, chappals, and polyester that pose a huge waste management challenge today, but have been left out of the scope of EPR.
- Plastic waste reduction / minimisation is neglected in rules. Compostable or biodegradable plastic is not under the ambit of EPR.
- Consumer awareness: Waste segregation has been the greatest challenge in India owing to lack of consumer awareness.
- Lack of compliance: The plastic producers do not wish to engage in the process holistically and take the effort to build awareness.
- Lack of recycle infrastructure: These challenges range from lack of handling capacity to illegitimate facilities in the forms of multiple accounting of waste, selling to aggregators and leakages.
Way forward
- The government could support and strengthen the informal recycling chain by bridging gaps in adequate physical spaces, infrastructure, etc.
- An effective EPR framework should address the issue of plastics and plastic waste management in tandem with the existing machinery, minimise duplication and lead to a positive environmental impact, with monitoring mechanisms including penalties for non-compliance.
- EPR funds could be deployed for mapping and registration of the informal sector actors, building their capacity, upgrading infrastructure, promoting technology transfer, and creating closed loop feedback and monitoring mechanisms.
- Market value for the recycled plastics can be increased by increasing the demand for and use of recycled plastics in packaging, thus creating the value to accommodate the current costs of recycling.
Introduction
The world’s most powerful space telescope – James Webb Telescope (JWT) blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, after several delays caused by technical hitches. Named after a former NASA director, Webb follows in the footsteps of the legendary Hubble — but intends to show humans what the Universe looked like even closer to its birth nearly 14 billion years ago. Though Webb is often called the replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope (HT) , NASA said it prefers to call it a successor.
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Comparison between JWT and HT
- Wavelength:
- The James Webb Space Telescope, carrying four scientific instruments, will observe primarily in the infrared range and provide coverage from 0.6 to 28 microns.
- The instruments on Hubble see mainly in the ultraviolet and visible part of the spectrum. It could observe only a small range in the infrared from 0.8 to 2.5 microns.
- Size comparisons
- Webb’s primary mirror has a diameter of 6.5 metres. Hubble’s mirror was much smaller – 2.4 metres in diameter.
- So, Webb will have a larger field of view compared to the camera on Hubble.
- Webb also carries a large sun shield measuring about 22 metres by 12 metres – about the size of a tennis court.
- Orbit
- Hubble orbits around the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km.
- Webb will not orbit the Earth.
- It will orbit the sun at about 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth.
- As the Earth orbits the Sun, Webb will orbit with it – but it will stay fixed in the same spot with relation to the Earth and the Sun.
- How far can they see?
- NASA says, “Hubble can see the equivalent of “toddler galaxies” and Webb Telescope will be able to see “baby galaxies”.”
- Webb’s near- and mid-infrared instruments will help study the first formed galaxies, exoplanets and birth of stars.
Insights JWT can offer about past
- It is widely expected to unveil many secrets of the universe, particularly those related to the formation of stars and galaxiesin the early period the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
- Powerful space telescopes, like JWST or the Hubble Telescope, are often called time-machines because of their ability to view very faraway objects.
- The light coming from those objects, stars or galaxies, which is captured by these telescopes, began its journey millions of years earlier.
- Essentially, what these telescopes see are images of these stars or galaxies as they were millions of years ago. The more distant the planet or star, the farther back in time are the telescopes able to see.
- JWST is much more powerfuland has the ability to look in the infrared spectrum, which will allow it to peer through much deeper into the universe, and see through obstructions such as gas clouds.
- As electromagnetic waves travel for long distances, they lose energy, resulting in an increase in their wavelength.
- An ultraviolet wave, for example, can slowly move into the visible light spectrum and the infrared spectrum, and further weaken to microwaves or radio waves, as it loses energy.
- Hubble was designed to look mainly into the ultraviolet and visible regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. JWST is primarily an infrared telescope, the first of its kind.
- It can also analyze the atmospheres of exoplanetsthat pass in front of their stars.
- It will look at a large number of things in the universe including icy moons, distant exoplanets and galaxy clusters.
Conclusion
JWST will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System, etc. Scientists hope this set-up can detect the light from the very first population of stars in the Universe to switch on more than 13.5 billion years ago.
Introduction
The National Action Plan on Climate change was formally launched on June 30th, 2008. The NAPCC identifies measures that promote development objectives while also yielding co-benefits for addressing climate change effectively. There are eight “National Missions” which form the core of the National action plan. They focus on promoting understanding of climate change, adaptation and mitigation, energy efficiency and natural resource conservation.
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The eight missions under NAPCC are:
- National Solar Mission
- The objective of the mission is to increase the share of solar energy in the total energy mix of the country, while also expanding the scope of other renewable sources.
- National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
- Mandating specific energy consumption decreases in large energy consuming industries and creating a framework to certify excess energy savings along with market based mechanisms to trade these savings.
- Innovative measures to make energy efficient appliances/products in certain sectors more affordable.
- National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
- The aim of the Mission is to make habitats more sustainable through a threefold approach that includes: Improvements in energy efficiency of buildings in residential and commercial sector; Management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW); Promote urban public transport
- National Water Mission
- The National Water Mission aims at conserving water, minimizing wastage and ensuring more equitable distribution through integrated water resource management.
- The Water Mission will develop a framework to increase the water use efficiency by 20%.
- It calls for strategies to tackle variability in rainfall and river flows such as enhancing surface and underground water storage, rainwater harvesting and more efficient irrigation systems like sprinklers or drip irrigation.
- National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem
- The Plan calls for empowering local communities especially Panchayats to play a greater role in managing ecological resources.
- It also reaffirms the following measures mentioned in the National Environment Policy, 2006.
- National Mission for a Green India
- This Mission aims at enhancing ecosystem services such as carbon sinks.
- It builds on the Prime Minister’s Green India campaign for afforestation of 6 million hectares and the national target of increasing land area under forest cover from 23% to 33%.
- It is to be implemented on degraded forest land through Joint Forest Management Committees set up under State Departments of Forests.
- These Committees will promote direct action by communities.
- National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
- The aim is to make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate change by identifying new varieties of crops, especially thermal resistant ones and alternative cropping patterns.
- This is to be supported by integration of traditional knowledge and practical systems, information technology and biotechnology, as well as new credit and insurance mechanisms.
- National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change
- This Mission strives to work with the global community in research and technology development and collaboration through a variety of mechanisms and, in addition, will also have its own research agenda supported by a network of dedicated climate change related institutions and universities and a Climate Research Fund.
- The Mission will also encourage private sector initiatives for developing innovative technologies for adaptation and mitigation.
Limitation of the above to tackle climate change
- The plan report makes no commitment to cut the country’s carbon emissionwhich should have been an integral part of it.
- Thefocal point of NAPCC seems to be solar power mission only and the government’s efforts to maximise the solar energy seemingly approve it.
- Missions related to sustainable habitat, water, and agriculture and forestry are multi-sectoral, overlapping, multi-departmental, advisory and very slow moving in nature.
- Several ongoing activities are in principle aligned with the objectives of these missions which should either be integrated with the missions or scrapped to save the time and cost.
- Another challenge is the monitoring systems, which are either ineffective or absent.
- Progress reports for NSM, NMEEE, and NWM are currently available but mapping of progress for other missions has been difficult due to their cross-cutting nature.
- The cross-cutting subjects of the missions have not yielded any positive results on grounds yet so a new approach is needed to solve this and bring the agenda of climate change to the mainstream.
Conclusion
By releasing the NAPCC, the Indian government has shown its commitment to address climate change issues and also sent a positive message to the public, industries, and civil society about the government’s concern to address the climate change issue through concerted action. Issues related to the awareness regarding global warming and climate change among the general population and the issue related to agriculture and health hazards due to climate change must be addressed strongly and effectively.
