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Answer the following questions in 150 words:
General Studies – 1
1. In the changing global situation and rising global issues, Gandhi’s vision may be the panacea for the planet. Critically examine.
Reference: Live Mint , The Hindu
Introduction
Gandhiji was a thinker, writer, public intellectual, political activist, political theorist and, above all, a philosopher who invented a new philosophical way of life. As a philosopher, he undoubtedly deserves to be ranked alongside the Buddha and Socrates.
The Gandhian strategy is the combination of truth, sacrifice, non- violence, selfless service and cooperation. Gandhi was Indian lawyer, politician, social activist, and writer who moulded the character of the struggle for freedom in India, and impressed his own ideals upon the new governing class that came into power when the English went home.
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Gandhian principles and approach
- Non-violence and Truth: These principles are needed more than ever. Truth can dispel hate speech, fake news that leads to mob lynching as seen in various cases. Non-violence on the other hand can prevent lynching and rising clashes between communities altogether such as the Delhi riots in February 2020.
- Satyagraha: Gandhi ji called his overall method of nonviolent action Satyagraha. It means the exercise of the purest soul-force against all injustice, oppression and exploitation. It is a method of securing rights by personal suffering and not inflicting injury on others.
- Instances of Republic Day violence by farmer protests in 2021 would be avoided if Non-violent Satyagraha was adhered to as in the case of Non-cooperation and Civil disobedience movements during freedom struggle.
- Trusteeship: Trusteeship is a socio-economic philosophy that was propounded by Gandhi ji. It provides a means by which the wealthy people would be the trustees of trusts that looked after the welfare of the people in general.
- The dichotomy between rich and poor can be bridged if every individual considers himself are a trustee and helps those in need.
Relevance in contemporary times
- World Peace: Non-Violence is a key component of Gandhianism, which was the great weapon used by Gandhiji during the freedom movement of India against British Raj.
- Perhaps the wars in current times such as Russia-Ukraine would not occur.
- Gandhiji believed non-violence and tolerance require a great level of courage and patience. In a world that is moving through the phases of war marred by violence and terrorism, there is a significant requirement of Gandhian idea of non-violence more and more today than the past days.
- Classless Society: As the Caste system is still prevalent in the Indian society, the Gandhian philosophy is useful to create a casteless society where everyone is treated equally irrespective of their caste.
- Racism in the west, caste-based violence in India are some examples where we need the imagination of Gandhi’s classless society.
- Gandhian Socialism: Gandhian view of socialism is not political but more social in its approach, as Gandhiji thought of a society with no poverty, no hunger, no unemployment and education and health for all. These values reduce conflict and strife and will lead to prosperity for all.
Conclusion
These Gandhian ideologies will continue to act as the lighthouse for people around the world and Indian policy makers alike. From poverty alleviation to Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and universal health care (Ayushman Bharat) to skill India programs everywhere the core inspiration comes from Gandhianism.
General Studies – 2
2. India is rapidly integrating technology in both governance and in delivering goods and services. All this requires a civil servant who is not just committed but also has the competence to deliver on this evolving mandate. Elaborate.
Reference: Indian Express
Introduction
E-governance, digital governance is the integration of technology with governance in delivery of goods and services.
The role of Civil Servants across the domains of policy making and policy implementation is critical to the development process. They assist in identifying major policy areas such as preparing major policy proposals, analysing various alternatives and solutions to societal problems requiring urgent attention, dividing the major policies into sub-policies, determining program of action and suggesting modification in the existing policy on the basis of its experience on the implementation front.
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Importance of competent civil servants in governance
- They engage in collection of relevant data and information in order to identify core issues. The type of information required, the extent of substance in the information so collected and assimilation of the information is the task of the Civil Servants.
- They then assist the government in terms of providing relevant data for substantiating policy proposals.
- Owing to their enormous administrative expertise and capability of the civil services, they are privy to various problems and issues facing the country.
- Their knowledge and experience so acquired is then put to use by assuming the role of the ‘think-tank’ of the government.
- The Civil Servants assist the political executive in identifying policy issues by suggesting the nature of problems and the need for taking them up for consideration at higher levels.
- The civil service engages itself in examining the issue taken up for policy formulation, it frames and reframes policy proposals keeping in view its viability, future prospects, resources available, acceptability, etc.
- It is also the responsibility of the civil services to analyze policy proposals in relation to the provisions of the Constitution, the laws framed by the Parliament, and other existing rules and regulations.
- In this way the civil services help in framing sound and effective policies.
- Civil servants are responsible for implementing the laws and policies of government. By carrying out laws, it regulates the behaviour of the people in society.
- The ideals and objectives of government may be very popular, the plans for national development may be extremely progressive and the resources of the country may be abundant, but without civil services, not much can be achieved.
- An efficient civil service can avoid waste, correct errors, limit the consequences of incompetence or irresponsibility while implementing laws and public policies
Civil servants achieving their objectives
- Setting right developmental goals and priorities in areas of education, health, communications etc. Formulation and implementation of strategies and programmes for the development and modernisation of the nation. E.g., Formulation of plans at district, state and national levels.
- Creation of new administrative organisations and improving the capacity of the existing ones for the developmental purposes.
- To develop agriculture, civil servants have to properly manage community resources such as land, water resources, forests, wetlands and wasteland development. E.g. the District Collector of Dewas, Umakant Umrao helped the farmers in Madhya Pradesh to fight against drought by constructing over 16,000 ponds.
- To facilitate industrial development, infrastructural facilities such as roads, electricity, communications, market centres etc. have to be provided. In these countries, the civil service manages government owned business, industrial enterprises and public utility services. IAS officer Ritu Maheshwari, installed new electricity smart meters to tackle the prevalent electricity theft in Kanpur.
- Development and mobilisation of natural, human and financial resources and their proper utilization for accomplishing developmental objectives. P Narahari, as district collector in Madhya Pradesh, worked towards building a barrier-free environment that ensures that people with disabilities can move about safely and independently.
- Securing the support of the people for developmental activities by involving them in the process of development by creating appropriate attitude towards the socio-economic changes that are taking place in society. IAS Officer, Smita Sabharwal, popularly known as ‘the people’s officer’, launched a campaign called “Fund Your City” in Warangal. She appealed to residents to help her build the infrastructure of Naxal-affected areas, which resulted in the construction of traffic junctions and foot over-bridges.
Conclusion
Indian civil servants should strive to make India’s civil services the best in the world. They need to come out with innovative ideas and solutions to deliver public services to the satisfaction of every citizen. At the same time, the right ecosystem should be created to ensure that they have a meaningful career and are able to fulfill their responsibilities without fear or favour.
3. To meet India’s healthcare challenges and transform it into a world leader in the field in the next 25 years, we must act now to transform education, expand care and research. Discuss.
Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India
Introduction
Healthcare provisions in India is grossly inadequate and access to healthcare is highly inequitable. Lack of efficient public healthcare and burden of out-of-pocket health expenditures reduces people’s capacity or disables them from investing in the human capital of their children.
In India, a large portion of the population is below the poverty line, therefore, they do not have easy access to primary health and education. There is growing inequality across social groups and income groups which translates itself into poor socio-economic mobility.
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Healthcare challenges in India
- Finance: At about 1.3% of the national income, India’s public healthcare spending between 2008 and 2015, has virtually remained stagnant. This is way less than the global average of 6 per cent. It is a herculean task to implement a scheme that could potentially cost Rs 5 lakh per person and benefit 53.7 crore out of India’s 121 crore citizenry, or roughly about 44% of the country’s population. Over 70 per cent of the total healthcare expenditure is accounted for by the private sector.
- Crumbling public health infrastructure: Given the country’s crumbling public healthcare infrastructure, most patients are forced to go to private clinics and hospitals. There is a shortage of PHCs (22%) and sub-health centres (20%), while only 7% sub-health centres and 12% primary health centres meet Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) norms.
- High Out of Pocket Expenditure: Reports suggest that 70% of the medical spending is from the patient’s pockets leading to huge burden and pushing many into poverty. Most consumers complain of rising costs. Hundred days into the PMJAY, it remains to be seen if private hospitals provide knee replacement at Rs 80,000 (current charges Rs 3.5 lakh) bypass surgery at Rs 1.7 lakh (against Rs 4 lakh).
- Insurance: India has one of the lowest per capita healthcare expenditures in the world. Government contribution to insurance stands at roughly 32 percent, as opposed to 83.5 percent in the UK. The high out-of-pocket expenses in India stem from the fact that 76 percent of Indians do not have health insurance.
- Doctor-Density Ratio: The WHO reports the doctor-density ratio in India at 8 per 10,000 people as against one doctor for a population of 1,000. To achieve such access, merely increasing the number of primary and secondary healthcare centres is not enough.
- Shortage of Medical Personnel: Data by IndiaSpend show that there is a staggering shortage of medical and paramedical staff at all levels of care: 10,907 auxiliary nurse midwives and 3,673 doctors are needed at sub-health and primary health centres, while for community health centres the figure is 18,422 specialists.
- Rural-urban disparity: The rural healthcare infrastructure is three-tiered and includes a sub-center, primary health centre (PHC) and CHC. PHCs are short of more than 3,000 doctors, with the shortage up by 200 per cent over the last 10 years to 27,421. Private hospitals don’t have adequate presence in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities and there is a trend towards super specialisation in Tier-1 cities.
- Social Inequality: The growth of health facilities has been highly imbalanced in India. Rural, hilly and remote areas of the country are under served while in urban areas and cities, health facility is well developed. The SC/ST and the poor people are far away from modern health service.
- Poor healthcare ranking: India ranks as low as 145th among 195 countries in healthcare quality and accessibility, behind even Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
- Commercial motive: lack of transparency and unethical practices in the private sector.
- Lack of level playing field between the public and private hospitals: This has been a major concern as public hospitals would continue receiving budgetary support. This would dissuade the private players from actively participating in the scheme.
- Scheme flaws: The overall situation with the National Health Mission, India’s flagship programme in primary health care, continues to be dismal. The NHM’s share in the health budget fell from 73% in 2006 to 50% in 2019 in the absence of uniform and substantial increases in health spending by States.
Measures needed
- To engineer an inclusive and sustainable growth for India, the social infrastructure like education, health and social protection are being given utmost priority by the Government
- The gaps in the expenditure on social infrastructure like health and education should be closed by strengthening the delivery mechanisms of the government initiatives.
- Protecting and investing in people’s health, education, and skilling is vital for reducing income inequality, and sustained inclusive economic growth.
- India needs to increase its spending on health and education. As recommended by the National Health Policy 2017 and the NEP 2020, India needs to increase its spending on health and education to at least 2.5 % in 6 % of GDP respectively from its current levels. Enhancing policies to maintain and even increase health and longevity will therefore be necessary.
- The current situation calls for more and better schools, especially in rural areas. It also calls for better transportation links between rural areas and regional urban hubs.
- India has to invest more in human capital formation at all levels, from primary education to higher education, cutting-edge research and development as well as on vocational training to increase the skill sets of its growing working-age population.
- The flagship schemes such as Skill India, Make in India, and Digital India have to be implemented to achieve convergence between skill training and employment generation.
- Bridging the gender gaps in education, skill development, employment, earnings and reducing social inequalities prevalent in the society have been the underlying goals of the development strategy to enhance human capabilities.
- Improved infrastructure, skill development, access to easy finance, reducing barriers to entrepreneurship and forums for mentorship of emerging entrepreneurs in partnership with corporates are some of measures.
- Decentralized models of development: Social policies for each state must be differentiated to accommodate different rates of population growth. The populations in south and west India are growing at a much slower pace than in the central and eastern states.
Conclusion
A multi-pronged approach is imperative to reap the demographic dividend. There is also a need to engage with the youth and create an enabling environment for entrepreneurship. The demographic dividend offers them a unique opportunity to boost living standards, but they must act now to manage their older populations in the near future by implementing policies that ensure a safe and efficient transition from the first demographic dividend to the second demographic dividend.
General Studies – 3
4. Examine the causes behind unemployment in India. What measures are needed to ensure adequate job creation in order to reduce the rate of unemployment?
Reference: Insights on India
Introduction
In a jobless growth economy, unemployment remains stubbornly high even as the economy grows. This tends to happen when a relatively large number of people have lost their jobs, and the ensuing recovery is insufficient to absorb the unemployed, under-employed, and those first entering the workforce. Jobless growth of the Indian economy is a “5C” problem: a Complicated Condition Created by Combinations of Causes.
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Causes of unemployment in India
- Jobless growth: There is mounting concern that future growth could turn out to be jobless due to de-industrialization, de-globalization, the fourth industrial revolution and technological progress. As per the NSSO Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18, India’s labour force participation rate for the age-group 15-59 years is around 53%, that is, around half of the working age population is jobless.
- Asymmetric demography: The growth in the working-age ratio is likely to be concentrated in some of India’s poorest states and the demographic dividend will be fully realized only if India is able to create gainful employment opportunities for this working-age population.
- Lack of skills: Most of the new jobs that will be created in the future will be highly skilled and lack of skill in Indian workforce is a major challenge. India may not be able to take advantage of the opportunities, due to a low human capital base and lack of skills.
- Low human development parameters: India ranks 130 out of 189 countries in UNDP’s Human Development Index, which is alarming. Therefore, health and education parameters need to be improved substantially to make the Indian workforce efficient and skilled.
- Informal nature of economy in India is another hurdle in reaping the benefits of demographic transition in India.
Public sector employment as a remedy: Critical analysis
- The latest data showed that there were 86 lakh vacant jobs among all central government civilian posts as of March 2020.
- The government recently announced Agnipath scheme for youth as a contract employment of four years.
- But even this measure would be ameliorative in the real economy that continues to remain distressed, a consequence of effects of the pandemic in the last few years.
- The country cannot afford to squander more years in its race to reap the benefits of its demographic dividend, and the push to provide jobs for those seeking to enter the labour force, even if belated, will help ease matters for the medium term.
- Real jobs in manufacturing, industries, MSME’s are the key to reaping demographic dividend. Skill development will also help in youth getting jobs in high paying services sector.
Measure needed and way forward
- Building human capital: Investing in people through healthcare, quality education, jobs and skills helps build human capital, which is key to supporting economic growth, ending extreme poverty, and creating a more inclusive society.
- Skill development to increase employability of young population. India’s labour force needs to be empowered with the right skills for the modern economy. Government has established the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) with the overall target of skilling/ up skilling 500 million people in India by 2022..
- Education: Enhancing educational levels by properly investing in primary, secondary and higher education. India, which has almost 41% of population below the age of 20 years, can reap the demographic dividend only if with a better education system. Also, academic-industry collaboration is necessary to synchronise modern industry demands and learning levels in academics.
- Establishment of Higher Education Finance Agency (HEFA) is a welcome step in this direction.
- Health: Improvement in healthcare infrastructure would ensure higher number of productive days for young labourforce, thus increasing the productivity of the economy.
- Success of schemes like Ayushman Bharat and National Health Protection scheme (NHPS) is necessary. Also nutrition level in women and children needs special care with effective implementation of Integrated Child Development (ICDS) programme.
- Job Creation: The nation needs to create ten million jobs per year to absorb the addition of young people into the workforce. Promoting businesses’ interests and entrepreneurship would help in job creation to provide employment to the large labourforce.
- India’s improved ranking in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index is a good sign.
- Schemes like Start-up India and Make in India , if implemented properly, would bring the desired result in the near future.
- Urbanisation: The large young and working population in the years to come will migrate to urban areas within their own and other States, leading to rapid and large-scale increase in urban population. How these migrating people can have access to basic amenities, health and social services in urban areas need to be the focus of urban policy planning.
- Schemes such as Smart City Mission and AMRUT needs to be effectively and carefully implemented.
Conclusion
India is on the right side of demographic transition that provides golden opportunity for its rapid socio-economic development, if policymakers align the developmental policies with this demographic shift.
To reap the demographic dividend, proper investment in human capital is needed by focussing on education, skill development and healthcare facilities.
Value-addition
Steps taken by government in recent times
- Dedicated Shram Suvidha Portal: That would allot Labor Identification Number (LIN) to units and allow them to file online compliance for 16 out of 44 labor laws.
- Random Inspection Scheme: To eliminate human discretion in selection of units for Inspection, and uploading of Inspection Reports within 72 hours of inspection mandatory.
- Universal Account Number: Enables 4.17 crore employees to have their Provident Fund account portable, hassle-free and universally accessible.
- Apprentice Protsahan Yojana: Government will support manufacturing units mainly and other establishments by reimbursing 50% of the stipend paid to apprentices during first two years of their training.
- Revamped Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: Introducing a Smart Card for the workers in the unorganized sector seeded with details of two more social security schemes.
- The National Career Service is being implemented as a mission mode project to provide various job-related services information on skills development courses, internships etc
5. What do you understand by genome sequencing? What is its importance? Explain the IndiGen Genome project.
Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India
Introduction
Genome Sequencing refers to the method through which the order of DNA nucleotides, or bases, in a genome, the order of As, Cs, Gs, and Ts that make up an organism’s DNA are figured. The human genome is made up of over 3 billion of these genetic letters
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About Genome sequencing
- A Genome is the complete genetic material of an organism. It is like an instruction manual which contains information about the make-up of the organism.
- While human genomes are made of DNA (Deoxyribonucleic acid), a virus genome can be made of either DNA or RNA (Ribonucleic acid).
- DNA and RNA provide genetic instructions for growth and functioning of organisms.
- Coronavirus is made of RNA. Genome sequencing is a technique that reads and interprets genetic information found within DNA or RNA.
Importance of genome sequencing
- Genome sequencing helps researchers understand the arrangement of the make up of DNA or RNA. Sequencing the genome will help us understand where the certain virus for instance of SARS-CoV-2 came from and how it spread
- Participants of genome-sample collections represent diversity of the country’s population. It will help in following ways:
- The first obvious use would be in personalised medicine, anticipating diseases and modulating treatment according to the genome of patients. Several diseases develop through the interplay of the environment with multiple genes, which differ across populations.
- Human genome sequencing is important to establish a link between diseases and the unique genetic make-up of each individual. For instance, cardiovascular disease generally leads to heart attacks in South Asians. If such propensities can be mapped to variations across genomes, it is believed public health interventions can be targeted better.
- While genes may render some insensitive to certain drugs, genome sequencing has shown that cancer too can be understood from the viewpoint of genetics, rather than being seen as a disease of certain organs.
- Another advantage of genome sequencing is that information regarding drug efficacy or adverse effects of drug use can be obtained. Drugs developed in the Western world and sold in India are pricey and may not be effective on the Indian gene. Mapping of India’s genetic landscape is critical for next generation medicine.
- It will enhance India’s scientific capabilities. Next step would be genome sequencing of crops that would help in better understanding of the genetic basis of susceptibility of crops to blights, rusts and pests. It may become possible to deter them genetically, and reduce dependence on chemicals.
- Global science would also benefit from genome sequencing, which would provide data useful for the mapping of the spread and migration of a range of life forms in the old World and thus would help in better understanding of human evolution.
Indigen Project
- The IndiGen initiative was undertaken by CSIR in April 2019, which was implemented by the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi and CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad.
- The objective is to enable genetic epidemiology and develop public health technologies applications using population genome data.
- This has enabled benchmarking the scalability of genome sequencing and computational analysis at population scale in a defined timeline.
- The ability to decode the genetic blueprint of humans through whole genome sequencing will be a major driver for biomedical science.
- IndiGen programme aims to undertake whole genome sequencing of thousands of individuals representing diverse ethnic groups from India.
Conclusion
Finally, genes account for less than 25 percent of the DNA in the genome, and so knowing the entire genome sequence will help scientists study the parts of the genome outside the genes. This includes the regulatory regions that control how genes are turned on and off, as well as long stretches of “nonsense” or “junk” DNA—so called because significance of it hasn’t been established.
Answer the following questions in 250 words(15 marks each):
General Studies – 1
6. Durga Puja was included in UNESCO’s ‘Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ last year. But like most major festivals, Durga Puja is not just a cultural extravaganza; it is also an economic lifeline. Elaborate.
Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India
Introduction
UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage is a coveted list is made up of those intangible heritage elements that help demonstrate diversity of cultural heritage and raise awareness about its importance. The list was established in 2008 when the Convention for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into effect.
According to unesco.org, “cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts”.
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About Durga Puja
- Durga Puja in Kolkata, one of largest cultural carnivals and street art festival of the country, recently received an important international recognition by making it to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
- Durga Puja is a classic fusion of religion and culture, regarded with a lot of pride and celebrated predominantly by the Bengali community.
- During this time, intricately-designed clay models of the Goddess are worshipped in ‘pandals’ and pavilions where people get together.
- Folk music, culinary, craft, and performing arts traditions are a part of the celebration.
Durga Puja as an economic lifeline
- Durga Puja is a gigantic event and an opportunity for millions to earn their livelihood. People spend generously by shopping, eating out and travelling.
- A 2013 ASSOCHAM study estimated the size of the Durga Puja industry at ₹25,000 crore, around 3.7% of West Bengal’s GDP at that time. And it projected a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 35%, which was much higher than that of West Bengal’s GDP.
- A recent British Council study focused on 10 creative industries and indicated that a ₹32,377 crore creative economy, accounting for 2.58% of the State GDP, was generated during the 2019 Durga Puja in West Bengal.
- In the Economic Weekly article, Puja sales were portrayed as one of the most reliable criteria for gauging the incomes of the people, although statisticians and economists might prefer other sophisticated indices. Today, a ‘K’-shaped post-pandemic economic recovery is envisaged by different experts.
Conclusion
Durga Puja in West Bengal is a cultural extravaganza unmatched in the scale at which it is organised. There are about 36,000 registered community Durga Pujas in West Bengal and 2,500 community Pujas in Kolkata.
Families across generations have been involved round the year in idol-making, lighting and illumination, crafts and designs for Durga Puja. The festival is the sole source of earnings across the year for many families.
General Studies – 2
7. The proposed convergence between the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in order restore degraded land and reversing desertification in the country can create employment whilst restoring environment. Discuss.
Reference: The Hindu
Introduction
With limited funds to deal with the gargantuan task of restoring degraded land and reversing desertification in the country, the government is now planning to bring convergence between the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY).
According to the Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas published by the Environment Ministry in 2021, at least 30% of India’s total geographical area is under the category of “degraded land”. At the same time, unemployment was said to be at a 45 year high in India. Ensuring convergence will tackle both problems with one solution.
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Objectives of MGNREGS
- MGNREGA is one of the largest work guarantee programmes in the world which was launched in 2005.
- The primary objective of the scheme is to guarantee 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work.
- Unlike earlier employment guarantee schemes, MGNREGA aims at addressing the causes of chronic poverty through a rights-based framework.
- At least one-third of beneficiaries have to be women.
- Wages must be paid according to the statutory minimum wages specified for agricultural labourers in the state under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
Objectives of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana
PMKSY is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (Core Scheme) launched in 2015. Centre- States will be 75:25 per cent. In the case of the north-eastern region and hilly states, it will be 90:10.
- Convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level,
- To expand the cultivable area under assured irrigation (Har Khet ko pani),
- To improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water,
- To enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop),
- To enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal based water for peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in a precision irrigation system.
Convergence of MGNREGS and PMKSY
- The employment scheme will work in tandem with the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana to help take up treatment of about 30% more land than feasible with the current scheme size.
- Under the latter, activities such as ridge area treatment, drainage line treatment, soil and moisture conservation, rainwater harvesting, nursery raising, afforestation, horticulture and pasture development are done. The Union government now wants the States to undertake these activities using MGNREGS funds, which go towards both material and wage components.
- The Rural Development Ministry is now hoping that by making use of the MGNREGS, which for the financial year 2022-23 has a budget of ₹73,000 crore, the government can scale up the area to be covered.
- By the Ministry’s own estimate, a convergence with the MGNREGS could help take up treatment of about 30% more land than feasible with the current scheme size.
Conclusion
There is a need for better coordination between various government departments and the mechanism to allot and measure the work. This is one of the best welfare schemes in recent years and it has helped the rural poor. However, government officials need to take the initiative to implement the scheme and must not block the work. The government must ensure that work is provided notwithstanding the demand and should expand the scheme and focus on value addition and multiply community asset works.
8. Jal Jeevan Mission has shown a lot of inter-state disparities in providing access to safe and adequate drinking water to all. A renewed focus towards addressing the disparities and creation of long-lasting infrastructure is of utmost importance. Comment.
Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India
Introduction
One of the most significant commitments of the current government is to ensure piped water to every rural household by 2024. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, led by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, 10.2 crore rural households, or about 53% of the eligible population, now have tap water access.
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About Jal-jeevan mission
- The chief objective of the Mission is to provide piped water supply (Har Ghar Jal) to all rural and urban households by 2024.
- It also aims to create local infrastructure for rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge and management of household waste water for reuse in agriculture.
- The Jal Jeevan Mission is set to be based on various water conservation efforts like point recharge, desilting of minor irrigation tanks, use of greywater for agriculture and source sustainability.
- The Jal Jeevan Mission will converge with other Central and State Government Schemes to achieve its objectives of sustainable water supply management across the country.
- The mission ensures:
- Functionality of existing water supply systems and water connections.
- Water quality monitoring and testing as well as sustainable agriculture.
- Conjunctive use of conserved water.
- Drinking water source augmentation.
- Drinking water supply system, grey water treatment and its reuse.
- Implementation: The Mission is based on a community approach to water and includes extensive Information, Education and Communication as a key component of the mission.
- JJM looks to create a jan andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.
- The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and states is 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States, 50:50 for other states, and 100% for Union Territories.
Inter-state disparities in access to safe drinking water
- The Government commissions annual surveys to evaluate the success of the scheme. A recent audit, by a private agency, found that around 62% of rural households in India had fully functional tap water connections within their premises.
- The survey, however, revealed wide disparities in achievement. Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Puducherry reported more than 80% of households with fully functional connections while less than half the households in Rajasthan, Kerala, Manipur, Tripura, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and Sikkim had such connections.
- About 75% of households received water all days of the week, and only 8% just once a week. On average, households got water for three hours every day.
- Moreover, the report mentions a problem of chlorine contamination.
- Though 93% of the water samples were reportedly free of bacteriological contamination, most of the anganwadi centres and schools had higher than the permissible range of residual chlorine.
Way forward
- Adopt innovative technologies: The government need to adopt innovative technologies, especially sewage treatment, in-situ combustion/energy production from human excreta, etc. This will reduce the consumption of freshwater to flush tanks, often seen in urban areas.
- With the massive deployment of sensor-based IoT systems for measurement & monitoring of water supply, testing of water samples for quality and dashboard for data integration and analysis will ensure transparency, assured service delivery, and grievance redressal.
- Water Security for Development: India should work on groundwater replenishing methods without polluting the sources. Further, village communities and users/owners should start water budgeting to understand and improve water-use efficiency by changing water usage patterns, shifting to less water-consuming crops, and/ or switching to micro-irrigation, i.e., drip and sprinkler systems.
- Even a small reduction in agricultural use will enhance water availability for drinking and domestic purposes, enhancing the longevity and functionality of water supply systems.
- Convergence with other schemes: To ensure the long-term sustainability of JJM, the mission has to converge with other schemes such as MGNREGS, Atal Bhujal Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, etc., to dovetail resources at the village level.
Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the progress of the scheme but with the economy now close to pre-pandemic levels, it is likely that the challenges of labour and material have softened somewhat to aid the progress of the scheme. The Centre should liaise better with States that are falling behind in targets and ensure that the infrastructure created as part of the scheme is long lasting and not merely to meet election targets.
General Studies – 3
9. What is quantum entanglement? Explain its applications especially with respect to quantum computing.
Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India
Introduction
It is a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which the quantum states of two or more objects have to be described with reference to each other, even though the individual objects may be spatially separated.
It is the physical phenomenon that occurs when a pair or group of particles is generated, interact, in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the pair or group cannot be described independently of the state of the others.
Body
Significance of quantum entanglement
- Entangled states are key resources to facilitate many quantum information processing tasks and quantum cryptographic protocols.
- The entangled pairs of electrons can be safely used as resources for facilitating quantum information processing tasks.
- Several applications can take advantage of this unique physical property that will change our present and future. Entanglement can enable quantum cryptography, superdense coding, maybe faster than light speed communication, and even teleportation.
- Because of its potential, multiple industries, including finance and banking, hope to solve time and processing power-consuming problems with quantum computers.
- Quantum entanglement is a phenomenon that can potentially aid such computers, cutting down on time and computing power needed to process information transfer between their qubits
Applications of quantum entanglement
- Quantum Cryptography: Creating a secure channel is the key to unbreakable cryptography between two parties. Entanglement can create this. Two entangled systems mean that they are correlated with each other (when one changes, so does the other), and no third party will share this correlation.
- Quantum cryptography also benefits from no-cloning, meaning that it is impossible to create an identical copy of an unknown quantum state. Therefore, it is impossible to copy data encoded in a quantum state.
- Improved Microscopy: A team of Japanese researchers at Hokkaido University developed the world’s first entanglement-enhanced microscope. This microscope fires two beams of photons at a sample and measures the interference created by the reflected beams. The Entangled photons increased the amount of information gathered and thus the sharpness.
- Quantum Teleportation: Quantum teleportation is the exchange of quantum information, photons, atoms, electrons, and superconducting circuits, between two parties. Teleportation allows Quantum Computers to work in parallel, dropping power consumption up to 100 to 1000 times.
- Quantum teleportation exchanges “quantum” data over a classical channel differing from Quantum Cryptography, which exchanges “classical” data over a quantum channel.
- Superdense Coding: Superdense coding is the transportation of two classical bits of information using one entangled qubit. This means that a user can:
- Send half of what will be needed to reconstruct a classical message ahead of time, allowing the user to transmit at double speed until the pre-delivered qubits are exhausted.
- High-latency bandwidth can be converted to low latency bandwidth, sending half of the information over the high latency channel supporting the data coming over the low latency channel.
- Double the capacity in one direction of a two-way quantum channel
Conclusion
Various industries are trying to solve time and processing power consuming problems using quantum computers to unlock valuable applications of quantum computing. The phenomena of quantum entanglement comes useful to cut down on the time and computing power to process information transfer between qubits.
10. One of the aims of the proxy war was to reverse that culture and make it intolerant, more prudish, radical and unaccepting of other faiths or cultures. Suggest ways to permanently win a proxy war with a special emphasis on role of social change. (250 words)
Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India
Introduction
Today, with conventional war becoming a receding option, we are said to be in an era of hybrid warfare; a diverse and dynamic blend of conventional, low intensity, and cyber operations. Low intensity warfare is being orchestrated through both regular forces and irregulars. Examples include Russia’s actions in Ukraine, and the Iranian sponsoring of Hezbollah against Israel.
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Background
- The prosecution of hybrid warfare through irregulars and non-state actors has gained currency over a period of time.
- Pakistan, after enacting the role of a front line state and supporting the mujahideen to defeat then Soviet Army in Afghanistan in the 1980s at the behest of the United States, has gone on to master this art.
- Having repeatedly failed to defeat India in conventional war, the Pakistan Army has pursued the low intensity warfare option, with non-state actors as its strategic asset. It has employed terrorists belonging to various groups to wage proxy war in order to achieve its prime political objective of internationalising the Kashmir issue.
- As a low cost option, this has also well served the interest of Pakistan’s military to keep the Indian Army engaged in combating terrorism.
- To inflict casualties of the magnitude of the Uri strike through conventional means would imply launching a major operation with a high risk of own losses.
- Thus the proxy war strategy suits the political bosses in Islamabad and the military brass in Rawalpindi. Given its internal turbulence, Pakistan is likely to continue to pursue this policy, may be even more proactively in future, unless India takes effective counter measures to thwart Islamabad’s grand design.
Impact of proxy wars
- States use proxies for many reasons. For the United States, the issue is often cost: Locals fight, and die, so Americans do not have to.
- In addition, because they are local, proxies are often (though not always) more accepted by the affected communities.
- Therefore, they can better gain intelligence from those communities and are less likely to promote the sort of nationalistic backlash that so often accompany foreign interventions.
- If the proxy is a guerrilla force, they often know the terrain better and can blend in with the population in a way that foreigners never can.
- Most states lack the power-projection capacity of the United States and turn to proxies as a way to influence events far from their borders.
- Iran lacks a navy or massive airlift capacity necessary to sustain large forces in Yemen
- Despite the power asymmetry, proxies almost invariably act according to their own interests and impulses.
- Right after 9/11, the United States asked the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, its key Afghan ally made up primarily of minorities, not to take Kabul so that a force composed of ethnic Pashtun, Afghanistan’s dominant community, could do so and assuage the fears of minority dominance.
Tackling proxy wars
- Stopping support to fringe elements in the society to carry out attacks. Civilian government and democratic ideals can help in ensuring this.
- Strict regulation of movement of dual use technologies and weapons lest it falls in wrong hands. A global pact must be done.
- Ensuring an egalitarian society, where the divides aren’t extreme that may lead to unrest and flourishing of nefarious activities.
- Education of the youth and behavioural nudge to the youth of minority communities who are at risk of radicalisation.
- To prevent the further spread of proxy warfare in the region, the institutional conflict of interest in the Security Council must come to an end. The U.N. should establish a standing body to investigate the source and use of conflict armaments to ensure compliance with the laws of armed conflict and the U.N. Charter.
- The body could function in a similar manner as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — an intergovernmental organization that rates governments’ performance on efforts to reduce money laundering and terrorism financing.
Conclusion
Only through the collective and visible effort of the General Assembly will it be possible to change the calculus of arms-supplying nations supporting proxies in armed conflicts around the world.
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