NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Answer the following questions in 150 words:
General Studies – 1
Reference: The Hindu
- Care work is vital for our society as well as for the economy in general and India needs to have a strategy and action plan for improved policies with respect to care work. Discuss.
Introduction
Care work refers to the paid and unpaid labor and services that support caregiving in all its forms. Care work encompasses direct activities such as feeding a baby or nursing an ill partner, and indirect care activities such as cooking and cleaning. It also encompasses a range of sectors such as education, health, and social work involving teachers, nurses, community health workers, social workers, and domestic workers.
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Importance of Care Work for India
- UN reports have shown that the demographic transition is towards a higher proportion of the elderly at the expense of the working-age population.
- Urbanisation is changing the traditional joint-family structure to nuclear, single-parent, and transnational households, alienating them from community care bonds.
- Greater investment in care services can create an additional 300 million jobs globally, many of which will be for women. In turn this will help increase female labour force participation and advance Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8
Challenges in care work
- India spends less than one per cent of GDP on care work infrastructure and services, including pre-primary education, maternity, disability and sickness benefits, and long-term care as per the ILO.
- There is a disproportionate burden of unpaid care on women, who perform 10 times the domestic work than men.
- Balancing paid and unpaid work obligations is taxing on women. Reports of increased stress levels are not uncommon.
- In fact, women report higher levels of symptoms related to depression and anxiety, including low life satisfaction and subjective well-being.
- The Maternity Act, 2017 mandates that employers must provide crèche facilities within a prescribed distance. Yet, in practice, implementation remains dismal. IFC surveys conducted in 2019 show only 49 per cent of employers had creche facilities in place.
- As women increase their paid work time, they do not achieve a corresponding reduction in their unpaid work hours. Nor have men increased their share of unpaid work at the same rate that women have increased their share of paid work.
- The double-burden is intensified when women are subjected to poverty and live in communities that lack basic infrastructure.
- In areas that lack easy access to food and water, household duties are even more time consuming.
- The country’s 2.5 million women Anganwadi workers (AWWs), auxiliary nurse-midwives (ANMs) and accredited social-health activists (ASHAs) are not recognised as workers or paid fixed monthly salaries in many States.
- There has been little progress on formalising working conditions for India’s 3.9 million domestic workers (of whom 2.6 million are women), even as the National Platform for Domestic Workers Bill 2016, and the National Policy on Domestic Workers remains under consideration.
Way forward
- Creating jobs, especially for women. An analysis by the Women’s Budget Group (2019) showed that if an additional 2 per cent of the GDP was invested in the Indian health and care sector, 11 million additional jobs could be generated, nearly a third of which would go to women.
- Moreover, countries which invest in a combination of childcare infrastructure and parental leave policies to offset the burden on women, have a higher maternal employment to population ratios as per the ILO.
- Care work should be viewed as a collective responsibility and public good.
- Investing in a combination of childcare infrastructure and parental leave policies will have a higher maternal employment to population ratios.
- Recognising AWWs, ANMs, ASHAs, domestic help, etc. as formal sector workers would allow their economic contribution to be counted in the GDP.
- ILO’s ‘Decent Work Agenda’ principles emphasis on recognising the value of unpaid care work.
- India’s average female daily wage was 59 % of the male wage in 1993-94 and improved to 72 %in 2018-19.
- The ILO proposes a 5R framework for decent care work centred around achieving gender equality. It urges on
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- Recognition
- Reduction of unpaid care work
- Redistribution of unpaid care work
- Rewarding care workers and decent work
- Representation in social dialogue and collective bargaining.
- In consultation with the relevant stakeholders, the government needs to conceptualise a strategy and action plan for improved care policies, care service provisions and decent working conditions for care workers.
General Studies – 2
Reference: Indian Express
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.
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Background
- India’s apex court will hear the petitions challenging the electoral bonds scheme.
- Two prominent non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in India — Common Cause and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) — have legally challenged the scheme that was started in 2018.
- They, along with several other critics, have been alleging that the introduction of electoral bonds is “distorting democracy” in India.
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.
Reference: InstaPedia
Introduction
Nepal is an important neighbour of India and occupies special significance in its foreign policy because of the geographic, historical, cultural and economic linkages/ties that span centuries. India and Nepal share similar ties in terms of Hinduism and Buddhism with Buddha’s birthplace Lumbini located in present day Nepal. Over the past few years, we have been witness to the deteriorating India-Nepal relations. Reserves of goodwill which India had accumulated is fast depleting in Nepal.
Recently Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba visited India, four years after a Nepali leader visited New Delhi. It is the first bilateral visit abroad for Mr. Deuba who leads an elected government.
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Need of a rebalancing India Nepal ties
- Nepal shares borders with 5 Indian states- Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Sikkim and Bihar and with free movement of people and thereby acting as an important point of cultural and economic exchange in India-Nepal relations.
- Nepal unveiled a new political map that claimed strategically important land Kalapani, Limpiyadhura and Lipulekh of Uttarakhand as part of its sovereign territory.
- The misunderstanding created during the constitution framing / Madhesi agitation changed the entire gamut of relations between India and Nepal.
- Internal Security is a major concern for India; Indo-Nepal border is virtually open and lightly policed which is exploited by terrorist outfits and insurgent groups from North Eastern part of India eg. supply of trained cadres, fake Indian currency.
- Nepal over the years has witnessed chronic political instability, including a 10-year violent insurgency, damaging Nepal’s development and economy.
- There is anti-India feeling among certain ethnic groups in Nepal which emanates from the perception that India indulges too much in Nepal and tinkers with their political sovereignty.
- The establishment of diplomatic relations between Nepal and China and its growing influence in Nepal has resulted in declining traditional leverage of India in Nepal.
- Overtime trust deficit has widened between India-Nepal because of the Indian reputation for delaying implementation of various projects.
- The Mahakali agreement has remained in limbo for over two decades. In 2008, the collapse of Koshi’s embankment unleashed massive flooding, highlighting India’s failure to take precautionary measures and its refusal to take responsibility.
Prospects of India-Nepal Relations:
- Trade and economy:
- India is Nepal’s largest trade partner and the largest source of foreign investments, besides providing transit for almost the entire third country trade of Nepal.
- Indian firms engage in manufacturing, services (banking, insurance, dry port), power sector and tourism industries etc.
- Connectivity:
- Nepal being a landlocked country, it is surrounded by India from three sides and one side is open towards Tibet which has very limited vehicular access.
- India-Nepal has undertaken various connectivity programs to enhance people-to-people linkages and promote economic growth and development.
- MOUs have been signed between both the governments for laying electric rail track linking Kathmandu with Raxaul in India.
- India is looking to develop the inland waterways for the movement of cargo, within the framework of trade and transit arrangements, providing additional access to sea for Nepal calling it linking Sagarmath (Mt. Everest) with Sagar (Indian Ocean).
- Development Assistance:
- Government of India provides development assistance to Nepal, focusing on creation of infrastructure at the grass-root level.
- The areas assistance include infrastructure, health, water resources, and education and rural & community development.
- Defence Cooperation:
- Bilateral defence cooperation includes assistance to Nepalese Army in its modernization through provision of equipment and training.
- The Gorkha Regiments of the Indian Army are raised partly by recruitment from hill districts of Nepal.
- India from 2011, every year undertakes joint military exercise with Nepal known as Surya Kiran.
- Cultural:
- There have been initiatives to promote people-to-people contacts in the area of art & culture, academics and media with different local bodies of Nepal.
- India has signed three sister-city agreements for twinning of Kathmandu-Varanasi, Lumbini-Bodhgaya and Janakpur-Ayodhya.
- Humanitarian Assistance:
- Nepal lies in sensitive ecological fragile zone which is prone to earthquakes, floods causing massive damage to both life and money, whereby it remains the biggest recipient of India’s humanitarian assistance.
- Indian Community:
- Huge number of Indians lives in Nepal, these include businessmen, traders, doctors, engineers and labourers (including seasonal/migratory in the construction sector).
- Multilateral Partnership:
- India and Nepal shares multiple multilateral forums such as BBIN (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal), BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) NAM, and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) etc.
Way forward
- On border issue:
- The two countries have managed to settle about 98% of the common border.
- More than 8,500 boundary pillars have been installed reflecting the agreed alignment.
- As both countries are laying claim to the same piece of land, the time has come for both countries to sit for talks to solve this issue.
- Completion of the ongoing process of updating the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship:
- India must recognise that as in all other developing economies, Nepal’s aspirational young population is also looking beyond the open Indian border for opportunities, and its desire to turn his “land-locked” country into a “land-linked” country with a merchant navy must be considered positively.
- People-to-people inter-dependence must lead the relationship along with civil society and business-commercial level interactions.
- India’s major foray should be in innovation and technology transfer, multidisciplinary dialogues, educational and technical institutions, local and global migration management and skills and capacity-building.
- India needs to finish the infrastructure projects on time for instance Pancheswar project has been pending for over 20 years now.
- Nepal could be the fountainhead of climate change knowledge and connect to India’s larger dynamics of the management of the ecology of hills and mountains.
- Effective delivery on the pending projects, the remaining ICPs, the five railway connections, postal road network in the Terai and the petroleum pipeline so that connectivity is enhanced and the idea of ‘inclusive development and prosperity’ assumes reality.
- Negotiate diplomatically to resolve the boundary dispute with Nepal under the aegis of International law on Trans-Boundary Water Disputes.In this case, boundary dispute resolution between India and Bangladesh should serve as a model for this.
- India should maintain a policy of keeping away from the internal affairs of Nepal, while at the same time, in the spirit of friendship, India should guide the nation towards a more inclusive democracy.
- With its immense strategic relevance in the Indian context as Indian security concern, stable and secure Nepal is one requisite which India can’t afford to overlook.
- India needs to formulate a comprehensive and long-term Nepal policy.
- India should stop looking at Nepal purely through a security prism, and at bilateral relations only as transactional and part of a zero-sum game with China.
- Focus on working towards multifaceted relationshipsto the advantage of both nations.
General Studies – 3
Reference: InstaPedia
Introduction
Gross domestic product (GDP) is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period. As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health.
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Factors affecting the GDP growth
- Human Resource:
- The quality and quantity of available human resource can directly affect the growth of an economy.
- The quality of human resource is dependent on its skills, creative abilities, training, and education.
- If the human resource of a country is well skilled and trained then the output would also be of high quality.
- On the other hand, a shortage of skilled labor hampers the growth of an economy, whereas surplus of labor is of lesser significance to economic growth.
- Therefore, the human resources of a country should be adequate in number with required skills and abilities, so that economic growth can be achieved.
- Natural Resources:
- Affect the economic growth of a country to a large extent.
- Natural resources involve resources that are produced by nature either on the land or beneath the land.
- The resources on land include plants, water resources and landscape.
- Countries having plenty of natural resources enjoy good growth than countries with small amount of natural resources.
- The efficient utilization or exploitation of natural resources depends on the skills and abilities of human resource, technology used and availability of funds.
- A country having skilled and educated workforce with rich natural resources takes the economy on the growth path.
- Capital Formation
- Involves land, building, machinery, power, transportation, and medium of communication.
- Producing and acquiring all these manmade products is termed as capital formation.
- Capital formation increases the availability of capital per worker, which further increases capital/labor ratio.
- Consequently, the productivity of labor increases, which ultimately results in the increase in output and growth of the economy.
- Technological Development:
- Technology involves application of scientific methods and production techniques.
- Technological development helps in increasing productivity with the limited amount of resources.
- Countries that have worked in the field of technological development grow rapidly as compared to countries that have less focus on technological development.
- The selection of right technology also plays an role for the growth of an economy.
- On the contrary, an inappropriate technology- results in high cost of production.
- Social and Political Factors
- Play a crucial role in economic growth of a country.
- Social factors involve customs, traditions, values and beliefs, which contribute to the growth of an economy to a considerable extent.
- For example, a society with conventional beliefs and superstitions resists the adoption of modern ways of living.
- In such a case, achieving becomes difficult.
- Apart from this, political factors, such as participation of government in formulating and implementing various policies, have a major part in economic growth.
Conclusion
In India, contributions to GDP are mainly divided into 3 broad sectors – agriculture and allied services, industry and service sector. In India, GDP is measured as market prices and the base year for computation is 2011-12. There should be more focus on inclusive growth rather than just growth.
Reference: Down To Earth
Introduction
Air pollution is the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are 22 of the 30 most polluted cities in the world are in India according to the World Air Quality Report, 2020. The India State Level Disease Burden Initiative published in Lancet Planetary Health in December 2020, indicated 1.7 million deaths in India were attributable to air pollution in 2019.
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Impact of air pollution on the economy:
- Beyond health costs, air pollution can also hurt the economy in other ways.
- According to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), India had the highest share of welfare costs (or a loss of income from labour), of about $220 billion (about ₹1.4 trillion), in South and South-East Asia of a combined total of $380 billion from mortality due to air pollution.
- In addition to human lives lost, there’s an estimated global cost of $225 billion in lost labour, and trillions in medical costs, Greenpeace report says.
- Government is keen to ascend the World Bank’s “ease of doing business” chart, but images of people walking around Delhi in safety masks do little to attract investment.
- In a 2018 study, Jamie Hansen-Lewis of Brown University finds that air pollution hurts productivity in India’s labour-intensive industries.
- She estimates that bringing the country’s air to global standards would lead to a small increase in profits of 0.3% across manufacturing companies with more pronounced effects in labour-intensive firms. Similarly, pollution is also hurting agriculture by stifling crop productivity.
- A 2014 study estimated that air pollutants were responsible for 19% of the loss in yields in wheat production in India in 2010.
Government efforts in dealing with air pollution:
- The Centre has launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles (FAME) I India scheme in 2015 to reduce pollution caused by diesel and petrol-operated vehicles and to promote electric and hybrid vehicles in India.
- The FAME phase II scheme has been extended for two years to drive greater adoption of the scheme.
- The Vehicle Scrappage Policy, launched August 13, 2021, is a government-funded programme to replace old vehicles with modern and new vehicles on Indian roads. The policy is expected to reduce pollution, create job opportunities and boost demand for new vehicles.
- The prime minister in August 2021, announced the enhancement of target to 20 per cent for ethanol blending in petrol by 2025 in order to further lower carbon emissions and improve air quality.
- In August 2021, the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 were notified, which are aimed at phasing out single-use plastic by 2022. The Extended Producer Responsibility for plastic and e-waste management has been introduced.
- The Indian Railways has set a target of net zero carbon emission by 2030 primarily through sourcing its energy requirement through renewable energy and 100 per cent electrification for reduction of carbon emission by December 2023.
- The implementation of the Green India Mission (GIM) has been undertaken to increase green cover in India to the extent of five million hectares (mha) and improve the quality of existing green cover on another five mha.
- The government acknowledged air pollution as a pan–India problem with the drafting of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which was intended to build and strengthen the institutional capacity to monitor air quality across India, carry out indigenous studies to understand the health impacts of air pollution and create a national emission inventory.
Way forward
- Short term measures should be accompanied by measures that increase the forest cover of the land and provide farmers with an alternative to burning the remains of their crops.
- An innovative approach could be to use climate change funds to turn farm residues into a resource, using technological options such as converting them into biofuels and biofertilizers.
- Proactive engagements are necessary to persuade and reassure farmers.
- It is important to find other uses for stubble such as biomass, which may encourage farmers to look for alternative sources of income.
- India should at least now give high importance to the WHO warning about air pollution being the new tobacco. Sharply escalated, deterrent parking fees can be implemented.
- From an urban development perspective, large cities should reorient their investments to prioritise public transport, favouring electric mobility.
- Incentives for adoption of alternate mobility technologies should be promoted.
- The World Bank has said it is keen to enhance its lending portfolio to tackle air pollution, opening a new avenue for this.
- Governments should make the use of personal vehicles in cities less attractive through strict road pricing mechanisms like Congestion tax, Green-house Gas tax
- Need to speed up the journey towards LPG and solar-powered stoves.
- Addressing vehicular emissions is within India’s grasp but requires a multi-pronged approach. It needs to combine the already-proposed tighter emission norms (in form of BS VI), with a push for shared mobility and public transport and adoption of alternate mobility technologies.
- NCAP should take precedence from emerging practices in the country—pollution cess in Delhi on truck entry, big diesel cars, and diesel fuel sales and the coal cess—to generate dedicated funds to finance clean air action plan.
- Tackle road dust by mechanised sweeping and water-sprinkling but what would be more beneficial is if the sides of the roads could be paved or covered with grass that holds the soil together and stops the production of the dust in the first place.
- Attention to non-technological aspects such as urban planning, to reduce driving, and to increase cycling, walking, and use of public transport are needed.
Answer the following questions in 250 words(15 marks each):
General Studies – 1
Reference: EconomicTimes
Introduction
Monsoons are seasonal winds which reverse their direction with the change of season. The monsoon is a double system of seasonal winds. They flow from sea to land during the summer and from land to sea during winter. Monsoons are peculiar to Indian Subcontinent, South East Asia, parts of Central Western Africa etc. Indian Monsoons are Convection cells on a very large scale. They are periodic or secondary winds which seasonal reversal in wind direction.
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Factors that influence formation of South west monsoon are:
- The differential heating and cooling of land and water creates a low pressure on the landmass of India while the seas around experience comparatively high pressure.
- The shift of the position of Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) in summer, over the Ganga plain (this is the equatorial trough normally positioned about 5°N of the equator. It is also known as the monsoon-trough during the monsoon season).
- The presence of the high-pressure area, east of Madagascar, approximately at 20°S over the Indian Ocean. The intensity and position of this high-pressure area affect the Indian Monsoon.
- The Tibetan plateau gets intensely heated during summer, which results in strong vertical air currents and the formation of low pressure over the plateau at about 9 km above sea level.
- The movement of the westerly jet stream to the north of the Himalayas and the presence of the tropical easterly jet stream over the Indian peninsula during summer.
- Position and strength of the Tropical Easterly Jet (African Easterly Jet).
- Southern Oscillation (SO): Normally when the tropical eastern south Pacific Ocean experiences high pressure, the tropical eastern Indian Ocean experiences low pressure. But in certain years, there is a reversal in the pressure conditions and the eastern Pacific has lower pressure in comparison to the eastern Indian Ocean. This periodic change in pressure conditions is known as the SO.
- Indian Ocean Dipole, which is sustained variations in the difference between tropical western and eastern Indian Ocean surface temperatures
- Madden-Julian oscillation, an oceanic-atmospheric phenomenon which affects weather activities across the globe. It brings major fluctuation in tropical weather on weekly to monthly timescales.
Effects of climate change on the Indian monsoons:
- Climate Change has been ruining quite a few things such and Indian Monsoon might be one of them.
- The worst part here is that the effects of the Indian Monsoon are also felt by others and not just India, making it an active feature of the weather across the globe.
- Research has confirmed that Monsoon in Asia is entwined with several aspects of global climate along with having an influence over the global atmospheric circulation as well.
- Since the year 1950, average summer rains in India have declined by around 7 percent.
- In 1990s, high concentrations of aerosols were found in the northern Indian Ocean. In fact, satellite images even showed a stain across the Indo-Gangetic Plain and over the Indian Ocean, which was named as the “brown cloud”. In 1999, a team of investigators set out to understand what brown cloud exactly was.
- Black carbon combines with sulfates and other aerosols, wherein the Indo-Gangetic Plain contributes highly due to intensive industrial and extractive activity.
- Regional Climate Change has been occurring also because of changes in land use.
- In the last 15 decades, forest cover over Asia has reduced significantly.
- Increase in agricultural production in India, excessive use of water for irrigation has caused a negative impact on the moisture of the soil thereby diminishing its capability to reflect or absorb heat.
- Due to all these factors, Monsoon is shifting its patterns.
- Aerosols absorb solar radiation due to which less of it reaching the surface of the Earth.
- This leads to cooling of land, reducing the contrast of temperature between sea and land, thereby weakening the atmospheric circulation that sustains the Indian Monsoon.
- Not only this, changes in circulation in the Indian subcontinent affect air-sea interaction which is the binding factor between Asia and the Indian Ocean.
Measures needed
- Deploying lower-carbon Energy:
- There are four main types of low-carbon energy: wind, solar, hydro or nuclear power. The first three are renewable, which means these are good for the environment – as natural resources are used (such as wind or sun) to produce electricity.
- Deploying lower carbon energy would help address both domestic and international climate challenges while simultaneously improving the economic well-being of India’s citizens.
- Mainstreaming Renewable energy:
- India’s energy mix is dominated by coal powered electric generation stations as of now.
- The need of the hour is increase the share of renewable energy in this energy mix.
- Focus on Energy Efficiency:
- Will need energy efficient buildings, lighting, appliances and industrial practicesto meet the net-zero goal.
- Increased usage of Biofuels:
- Can help reduce emissions from light commercial vehicles, tractors in agriculture.
- In aviation, the only practical solution for reducing emissions is greater use of biofuels, until hydrogen technology gains scale.
- Transition towards Electric vehicles:
- This will further help curb the carbon emissions.
- Carbon Sequestration:
- India willhave to rely on natural and man-made carbon sinks to soak up those emissions. Trees can capture 0.9 billion tons; the country will need carbon capture technologies to sequester the rest.
- Carbon Pricing:
- India, which already taxes coal and petroleum fuels, should consider putting a tax on emissions to drive change.
Conclusion
Climate change is set to inescapably alter the ocean temperatures around the Indian neighborhood. So, giving more importance to understanding the vagaries of the NE monsoon should be among India’s key priority in adapting to climate change. India needs to step up research to improve the performance of the monsoon prediction models. Preparedness is the best way forward.
General Studies – 2
Reference: Financial Express
Introduction
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), launched by Prime Minister, aims to create a seamless online platform that will enable interoperability within the digital healthcare ecosystem. The mission has been conceptualized as a set of ‘digital building blocks’. Each building block is seen as a ‘digital public good’ that can be used by any entity in the digital health ecosystem and provides key capabilities that enable the ABDM vision
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Features
- The key components of this scheme, which is also called the National Digital Health Mission or the PM Digital Health Mission, are a health identity card for every citizen, a healthcare professionals registry, and healthcare facilities registries.
- It will also help ensure security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information.
- The health ID for every citizen will also work as their health account, to which personal health records can be linked and viewed with the help of a mobile application.
- Healthcare Professionals Registry (HPR) and Healthcare Facilities Registries (HFR) will act as a repository of all healthcare providers across both modern and traditional systems of medicine.
- Currently, the project is being implemented in the pilot phase in six Union Territories.
- The nationwide rollout of the project coincides with National Health Authority (NHA) celebrating the third anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
Potential of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission
- The mission will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent.
- Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission will play a big role in eliminate problems in medical treatment of poor and middle class.
- The new programme will help create interoperability within the digital health ecosystem, similar to the role played by the UPI in revolutionising the payments.
- It will ensure ease of doing business for doctors and hospitals and healthcare service providers.
- Furthermore, the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Sandbox, created as a part of the mission, will act as a framework for technology and product testing that will help organisations, including private players to be a part of the National Digital Health Ecosystem to become a health information provider
Possible challenges
- The mission still does not recognize ‘Health’ as a justiciable right. There should be a push draft at making health a right, as prescribed in the draft National Health Policy, 2015.
- One of the biggest concerns is regarding data security and privacy of patients. It must be ensured that the health records of the patients remain entirely confidential and secure.
- Potential misuse of information by the insurance companies can affect, people’s ability to buy insurance.
- The companies may charge high premium if health details are known or even deny in few cases.
- In addition, the failure of a similar National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom must be learnt lessons from and the technical and implementation-related deficiencies must be proactively addressed prior to launching the mission on a pan India scale.
Conclusion
The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission would be playing a huge role in solving the issues faced in medical treatment by different classes of Indians, mainly the poor. It can be done by connecting people via technology that is connecting the healthcare workers, hospitals to patients etc. This has a revolutionary potential like never before for the health sector, but caution must be taken that the information is not inadvertently shared.
Value Addition: Ayushman Bharat
- Launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
- This initiative has been designed on the lines as to meet SDG and its underlining commitment, which is “leave no one behind”.
- Aim: to undertake path breaking interventions to holistically address health (covering prevention, promotion and ambulatory care), at primary, secondary and tertiary level.
- Includes the on-going centrally sponsored schemes – Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS) and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).
- Ayushman Bharat adopts a continuum of care approach, comprising of two inter-related components, which are:
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- Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs).
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY).
Key Features of PM-JAY:
- The world’s largest health insurance/ assurance scheme fully financed by the government.
- It provides cover of 5 lakhs per family per year, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization across public and private empanelled hospitals in India.
- Coverage: Over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable entitled families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) are eligible for these benefits.
- Provides cashless access to health care services for the beneficiary at the point of service.
Eligibility:
- No restrictions on family size, age or gender.
- All pre–existing conditions are covered from day one.
- Covers up to 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days post-hospitalization expenses such as diagnostics and medicines.
- Benefits of the scheme are portable across the country.
- Services include approximately 1,393 procedures covering all the costs related to treatment, including but not limited to drugs, supplies, diagnostic services, physician’s fees, room charges, surgeon charges, OT and ICU charges etc.
- Public hospitals are reimbursed for the healthcare services at par with the private hospitals.
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
India and UK are bound by strong ties of history and culture. In 2021, India & UK agreed on a common vision of a new and transformational Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and adopted an ambitious India-UK Roadmap to 2030 to steer cooperation for the next 10 years.
The recent visit of U.K. Foreign Secretary to India and participation in the inaugural edition of India-U.K. Strategic Futures Forum, a Track 1.5 Dialogue, has emphasized that the bilateral relationship is indeed on an upward trajectory.
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New avenues for cooperation between India and the UK
- Democracy power
- countering Russian aggression and reducing global strategic dependence on Moscow by underlining the importance of democracies working cohesively to deter aggressors.
- Indo-Pacific Initiative
- The U.K. will join India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and become a major partner on maritime security issues in Southeast Asia.
- Defence cooperation
- India is a key strategic partner for the U.K. and was underscored by signing of Defence and International Security Partnership between India and the U.K. in 2015.
- Joint cyber security programme
- A new joint cyber security programme is set to be announced to protect online infrastructure as both parties attempt to carry out joint exercises to combat threats from cyber criminals and ransomware.
- Strategic Tech Dialogue
- India and the U.K. plan to hold the first Strategic Tech Dialogue, a ministerial-level summit on emerging technologies.
- British International Investment funding
- The U.K. has confirmed 70 million euro of British International Investment funding to support the usage of renewable energy in India.
- India–U.K. Free Trade Agreement
- In January, India and U.K. managed to conclude the first round of talks for an India–U.K. Free Trade Agreement.
- The negotiations reflected shared ambitions to secure a comprehensive deal between the fifth and sixth largest economies in the world as both sides covered over 26 policy areas.
- Other areas of cooperation
- Fintech, Market regulation, Sustainable and green finance & Cyber security are some of the niche areas where India and UK can cooperate.
Way forward
- Indian and UK Government should prioritise trade talks and do more to lay the groundwork for an eventual deal.
- Starting out with improving access to targeted support for UK businesses in India, particularly start-ups and smaller businesses – could be the way out to improve the business environment in India.
- UK and India’s convergence of interests in the Indian Ocean region offers an important opportunity to increase engagement on defence and security.
- Hence, both nations should promote standards of transparency and sustainability for infrastructure projects in the region
- With the UK expanding its footprint in the Indo-Pacific and India working toward gaining prominence as the net security provider in the region, both countries’ aspirations and future seem to be intertwined. Hence, the imperative for thorough execution.
- New geopolitical realities demand a new strategic and it is time to seize the moment to lay the foundations of a partnership that can respond adequately to the challenges of the 21st century.
- India needs to recognise the lack of harmony between different strands of the relationship. Long joint statements and unreachable ambition are not the answer. Arriving at common ground on issues troubling India should be the foremost concern
- This relationship has had many beginnings. Just to stay in the game, we have to concede to geopolitics. Britain (post- Brexit) and India (with the China challenge) need partners. Given India’s difficulties amid the pandemic, Britain has early advantage
- Hence, the need to bank on the profound ties of culture, history and language to further deepen relations between India and UK.
General Studies – 3
Reference: InstaPedia
Introduction
5G is the fifth generation mobile network. It’s a unified platform which is much more capable than previous mobile services with more capacity, lower latency, faster data delivery rate and better utilisation of spectrum. The standards for the usage of 5G are defined and driven by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
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Benefits of 5G technology:
- A more Connected World:
- 5G will provide the capacity and bandwidth as per the need of the user to accommodate technologies such as Internet of Things.
- Thus, will help to incorporate Artificial Intelligence in our lives. It can also support Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality services.
- Bringing Internet Connectivity Everywhere:
- The speed of 5G will have ripple effects across many industries and geographies.
- High speed internet access is critical to pushing rural industries — like farming and agriculture — to evolve.
- 5G networks stand to unlock that innovation, but it’s highly dependent upon how it’s implemented.
- Better Coverage in Densely Populated Areas:
- Small cell deployments will be made more effective through high-speed internet, allowing lightweight, easy-to-mount network base stations to increase capacity and coverage in densely populated areas.
- Though their range is much shorter, they will be able to alleviate overloaded networks in cities and other densely populated regions.
- Networking as a Service:
- Network slicing allows multiple virtual networks to be created on top of a shared physical infrastructure, so different types of applications and services will be able to run on shared infrastructure.
- This enables telecommunications companies to provide networking on-demand in the same way that we currently access other services on-demand, creating a user experience that’s indistinguishable from a physically separated network.
- radio access networks (RAN):
- This is creating a new set of ecosystem players dominated by smaller and more innovative companies, which can make way for unknown companies from countries such as India, to emerge as mainstream mobile infrastructure technology providers for the world
The potential advantages it offers:
- Industry 4.0:
- The manufacturing industry is going through a digital revolution.
- Within the context of Industry 4.0, manufacturers are becoming more efficient through the application of automation and data exchange to their existing factory processes to enable better integrated workflows and smarter manufacturing.
- Industrial IoT technologies are streamlining and simplifying many manufacturing processes in revolutionary ways.
- Mixed reality (MR) applications:
- The MR Apps comprise augmented reality (AR) plus virtual reality (VR) apps.
- Beyond the consumer market (think Pokémon Go), interesting applications are also likely to be found in industrial and medical contexts.
- Remote medical procedures, engineering, public safety and field-service applications are all strong use case opportunities for the application of low latency 5G services.
- Sports and entertainment:
- A combination of VR and AR with ultra-high-fidelity enabled by 5G could transform the way fans interact in these events.
- Motorsports is ideal for VR in particular: equipped with their mobile device or headset, fans could be served information like lap or technical information about cars as they race on the track in a sport like Formula 1
- Fixed wireless access:
- Fixed wireless access could also be used to bring high bandwidth digital services to under-served rural areas.
- Mobile operators will then be able to compete with wireline, satellite and cable companies, offering new revenue streams and faster RoI.
- Autonomous vehicles:
- The idea that much of the car, if not all of it, is controlled not by the driver but by technology.
- 5G is critical to realize this as it will offer the connectivity and speed needed to deliver vast amounts of data to one another as well as other objects simultaneously.
- 5G can provide a completely seamless mobile experience is a must so that cars can stay constantly connected.
Challenges:
- Huge Investment Required: India needs a massive Rs 5 lakh crore ($70 billion) investment to bring in 5G.
- Expensive spectrum: Indian spectrum prices are some of the highest in the world and the allocated quantity is well below global best practices, while 40% of the spectrum is lying unsold.
- Lack of uniform policy framework: Delays due to complex procedures across states, non-uniformity of levies along with administrative approvals have impacted telecom service providers in rolling-out Optical Fiber Cables (OFC) and telecom towers.
- Local Regulatory Issues: Many of the local rules and regulations are prohibiting the rapid and cost-effective roll-out of small cells in city centres where Fifth Generation (5G) is initially expected to be most in demand.
- Debt scenario in the industry: According to ICRA, the collective debt of telecommunications service providers (TSPs) stands at Rs 4.2 lakh crore.
- Low optical fiber penetration: India lacks a strong backhaul to transition to 5G. Backhaul is a network that connects cells sites to central exchange. As of now 80% of cell sites are connected through microwave backhaul, while under 20% sites are connected through fiber.
- High Import of Equipments: Imports account for a 90 per cent of India’s telecom equipment market. However due to lack of local manufacturing and R&D, Indian telecom providers have no option other than to procure and deploy 5G technologies from foreign suppliers.
- Security: According to the Global Cyber Security Index released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), only about half of all the countries had a cybersecurity strategy or are in the process of developing one. The index, which was topped by Singapore at 0.925 saw India at 23rd position.
- Possibility of increased digital divide: Initial deployment of 5G networks in dense urban areas could left behind rural areas due to commercial viability, may led to increase the digital divide.
- Human exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: There has been concern about the said impact of these frequencies on health of human as well as on animals.
Way Forward:
- Spectrum Policy: India’s spectrum allocation for public wireless services should be enhanced significantly. Also, the cost of spectrum relative to per capita GDP is high and should come down.
- Create a Fifth Generation (5G) Program Office within Department of Telecommunications and an Oversight Committee.
- New civil infrastructure like highways, roads, canals and utilities (gas, electricity, water) lines should be mandated to provide Common Telecom Infrastructure resources such as ducting and power junction boxes to support 5G infrastructure.
- Security audits, a prerequisite for importing of equipment before deploying in Indian networks, needs to be simplified.
- Favorable Taxation Policy: Reducing taxation and regulatory fees on revenues could contribute to further evolution of the tax framework.
- Fifth Generation (5G) Pilot: Policy-makers may consider encouraging 5G pilots and test beds to test 5G technologies and use cases and to stimulate market engagement.
- Support Fifth Generation (5G) investment: Indian government and regulators should ensure the long-term sustainability of the industry and its ability to fund the significant investment required for 5G network deployments.
- Policy-makers may consider the use of licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum to create a balanced spectrum ecosystem – one that encourages investment, makes efficient use of spectrum and promotes competition.
- Where market failure has occurred, governments may consider stimulating investment in fiber networks and passive assets through setting up PPPs, investment funds and offering grant funds, etc.
Conclusion
The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2023 there will be a staggering 9.1 billion mobile subscriptions. 5G will act as the catalyst for Digital India—a watershed moment in digital transformation. India is at the cusp of a next generation of wireless technology 5G. It provides an opportunity for industry to reach out to global markets, and consumers to gain with the economies of scale. It can help in better service delivery, faster access to services and deeper penetration of digital services.
Reference: Indian Express
Introduction
Fake news is news, stories or hoaxes created to deliberately misinform or deceive readers. Usually, these stories are created to either influence people’s views, push a political agenda or cause confusion and can often be a profitable business for online publishers. Ex: Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013: fake video fueled communal passions.
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Consequences of fake news
- Social media has led to a dislocation of politics with people weighing in on abstractions online while being disengaged from their immediate surroundings.
- Social media has led to a degradation of our political discourse where serious engagement has been supplanted by “hot takes” and memes.
- It has obscured the providence of consequential interventions in our political discourse because of opacity in technology.
- Misinformation and disinformation spread in media is becoming a serious social challenge. It is leading to the poisonous atmosphere on the web and causing riots and lynching on the road.
- Platforms for harmful conspiracy theories and hate speech
- Spread of false or discredited science – e.g. anti-vax movement
- In the age of the internet (WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter,) it is a serious problem as rumours, morphed images, click-baits, motivated stories, unverified information, planted stories for various interests spread easily among 35 crore internet users in India.
- There have been many instances of online rumours leading to killings of innocent people. In some cases, ministers have deleted tweets after realizing the fake news which they shared earlier.
- Fake news has also been used to deceive illiterate people financially. Example- Chit fund schemes introduced the concept of online fraud through spam emails.
- Fake news has reduced people’s belief in social, print and electronic media = affect the benefits of these media.
Measures Needed:
- The current response to fake news primarily revolves around three prongs — rebuttal, removal of the fake news item and educating the public.
- Rebuttal:It is a form of fact-checking wherein the fake news is debunked by pointing out errors like mismatch, malicious editing and misattribution.
- Removal of Fake news:Technical companies like Facebook and YouTube uses algorithms to proactively remove fake news from their platforms.
- Also, WhatsApp has put a limit on forwarding messages, so as to limit the spread to fake news.
- Education and Awareness: The government must take the initiative to make all sections of the population aware of the realities of this information war and evolve a consensus to fight this war. It must also take strict action against the fake news providers.
- Ex: Italy has experimentally added ‘recognizing fake news’ in school syllabus. India should also seriously emphasize cybersecurity, internet education, fake news education in the academic curriculum at all levels.
- Strict Regulation: News being spread using chatbots and other automated pieces of software should automatically be selected for special screening.
- Bring out policy-: The government should bring out a draft seeking opinion from stakeholders regarding issues of controlling fake news. Any future guidelines on ‘fake news’ should target ‘fake news’ and not try to regulate media in the name of ‘fake news’.
- Regulatory mechanism:The PCI needs to be reformed and empowered in a way so as to enable it to strike a balance between the freedom of media and speech on the one hand, and right to know on the other.
- Government should have independent agency: to verify the data being circulated in social and other media. The agency should be tasked with presenting real facts and figures.
- An ombudsman Institution:To receive complaints on fake news and initiate immediate action.
- Accountability of Social Media:Social media websites should be made accountable of such activities so that it becomes their responsibility to have better control over the spread of fake news.
- Using Artificial Intelligence: The artificial intelligence technologies, particularly machine learning and natural language processing, might be leveraged to combat the fake news problem. AI technologies hold promise for significantly automating parts of the procedure human fact checkers use today to determine if a story is real or a hoax.
Conclusion
Fake news affects free speech and informed choices of citizens of the country, leading to the hijacking of democracy. Hence it is extremely important that there is a collective effort from all the stake holders involved to tackle this menace comprehensively.
Value addition
Laws and Regulation to Curb Fake News in India:
- Press Council of India:It is a regulatory body which can warn, admonish or censure the newspaper, the news agency, the editor or the journalist or disapprove the conduct of the editor or the journalist if it finds that a newspaper or a news agency has violated journalistic ethics.
- News Broadcasters Association: It represents the private television news and current affairs broadcasters. The self-regulatory body probes complaints against electronic media.
- Indian Broadcast Foundation:It looks into the complaints against contents aired by channels.
- Broadcasting Content Complaint Council: It admits complaints against TV broadcasters for objectionable TV content and fake news.
- Indian Penal Code: Section 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and Section 295 (injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) can be invoked to guard against fake news.
- Information Technology Act 2000: According to the Section 66 of the act, if any person, dishonestly or fraudulently, does any act referred to in Section 43 (damage to computer, computer system), shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees or with both.
- Civil or Criminal Case for Defamation: It is another resort against fake news for individuals and groups hurt by the fake news. IPC Section 499 (defamation) and Section 500 (whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both) provide for a defamation suit.
- Fake news has existed since the dawn of the printing press but in the age of the internet and social media, it has found a tremendous application. Manipulation of algorithms of social media and search engines is a global trend now.
- Misinformation and disinformation spread in the media is becoming a serious social challenge. It is leading to the poisonous atmosphere on the web and causing riots and lynching on the road.
