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
General Studies – 1
Topic: urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Down to Earth , Insights on India
Why the question:
There is an urgent need to address the emerging crisis of urban water supply, wastewater and stormwater management — from an inclusion, rights and justice perspective.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the various issues with respect to water in urban India and to suggest steps overcome them.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by giving statistic regarding the status of water utilisation in India.
Body:
Frist, write about various issues regarding water in India – Depletion of water tables, saltwater encroachment, drying of aquifers, groundwater pollution, water logging and salinity, etc. are major consequences of overexploitation. Substantiate with examples and facts
Next, write about the measures that are needed to promote sustainable and equitable utilisation management of water.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
The NITI Aayog report on Composite Water Management Index(CWMI) said that India is facing its ‘worst’ water crisis in history. Taps in Shimla went dry in summer of 2018, posing an unprecedented water crisis in the hill town. According to a forecast by the Asian Development Bank, India will have a water deficit of 50% by 2030.
The three biggest cities in the world – Tokyo, Shanghai and Delhi – engines of economic growth, producing billions in economic activity for their residents and the world. However, they have a problem: There is not enough fresh water available per person for their daily needs.
Body
Urban Water crisis
- Many large cities are prone to water issues. Population and economic growth have led to environmental degradation.
- Existing water supplies simply can’t keep up with the growing needs.
- The issue is exacerbated by climate change where extreme weather events such as drought and floods are becoming more common.
- Water security — having enough water to meet all living, irrigation and industry needs as well as a healthy surplus to adapt to major disasters — is steeply in decline.
- For example, over-exploitation in Bangkok, Thailand, has severely reduced groundwater levels, causing land to subside.
- Water sources around the city are also polluted due to the direct discharge of domestic sewage into drains and canals.
- Similarly, Bangkok’s inadequate drainage capacity and its location in the Chao Phraya River floodplains make it susceptible to flooding.
- Despite water being a prominent component of the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations warns we are off-track on most targets relevant to water, food, and agriculture.
- Freshwater availability is half that of the global average in Asia.
- Water efficiency is also among the lowest in the world and a low water productivity means crop yields are low despite the relatively large amount of water supplied in agriculture production.
- Climate experts have predicted that there will be fewer rainy days in the future but in those days it would rain more.
Causative factors for water crisis:
- A combination of population explosion, unplanned growth of the city and its expansion to some traditional catchment areas (a region from which rainfall flows into a river, lake, or reservoir) have led to a reduction in the natural flow of water, and large-scale deforestation.
- Climate change, leading to much lower precipitation during the winter months. As a result, the natural flow and recharge of water in the region has fallen sharply
- Failure of State governments to check unplanned development and exploitation of water resources. There is no attempt at the central or state levels to manage water quantity and quality
- The vegetation pattern has changed, tree cover is shrinking and unscientific dumping of debris in water streams is rampant.
- The debris blocks the natural course of water bodies.
- Increasing number of tube wells resulting in depletion of groundwater.
- Changes in farming patterns lead to consumption of more water for irrigation and also change the soil profile because of the use of fertilizers
- The states ranked lowest like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Jharkhand – are home to almost half of India’s population along with the majority of its agricultural produce.
- There is also a lack of interest in maintaining India’s traditional water harvesting structures.
Measures needed:
- Structural measures:
- Putting in place an efficient piped supply system (without leakage of pipes) has to be top on the agenda.
- Ancient India had well-managed wells and canal systems. Indigenous water harvesting systems need to be revived and protected at the local level. Examples: Karez, Bawli, Vav etc
- Digging of rainwater harvesting pits must be made mandatory for all types of buildings, both in urban and rural areas.
- Treating the Greywaterand reusing it needs to be adopted by countries like Israel (upto 85%). It could be used to recharge depleted aquifers and use on crops.
- Initiatives such ascommunity water storage and decentralized treatment facilities, including elevated water towers or reservoirs and water ATMs, based on a realistic understanding of the costs involved, can help support the city’s water distribution.
- Technologies capable of converting non-drinkable water into fresh, consumable water, offering a potential solution to the impending water crisis are needed. Example: Desalination technologies in Coastal areas, Water-sterilization in polluted water areas.
- Non-structural measures:
- The World Bank’s Water Scarce Cities Initiativeseeks to promote an integrated approach, aims at managing water resources and service delivery in water-scarce cities as the basis for building climate change resilience.
- Groundwater extraction patterns need to be better understood through robust data collection
- Decentralisation of irrigation commands, offering higher financial flows to well-performing States through a National Irrigation Management Fund.
- Public awareness campaigns, tax incentives for water conservation and the use of technology interfacescan also go a long way in addressing the water problem. Example, measures such as water credits can be introduced with tax benefits as incentives for efficient use and recycling of water.
- A collaborative approach like the adoption of a public-private partnership model for water projects can help. Example, in Netherlands, water companies are incorporated as private companies, with the local and national governments being majority shareholders.
- Sustained measures should be taken to prevent pollution of water bodies and contamination of groundwater.
- Ensuring proper treatment of domestic and industrial waste water is also essential.
Conclusion
Primarily water is not valued in India. “People think it is free”. In order to meet the future urban water challenges, there needs to be a shift in the way we manage urban water systems. An Integrated Urban Water Management approach must be adopted which involves managing freshwater, wastewater, and storm water, using an urban area as the unit of management.
General Studies – 2
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1 and mentioned as part of Mission-2023 Secure timetable.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the need to implement Health as a Right in India and its feasibility.
Directive word:
Critically examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving a brief about health care in India and cite statistics to substantiate.
Body:
First, write about the various issues plaguing the health care system in India.
Next, mention the need for Right to Health that would promote the health of various weaker sections of the society and also boost economic development. Further link the benefits of better healthcare systems to that of various existing schemes like Ayushman Bharath.
Next, bring out the impediments to declare health care a Fundamental Right.
Conclusion:
Conclude by highlighting that Right to Health is only a detailed interpretation of Right to life that is already a constitutional right.
Introduction
The right to health, as with other rights, includes both freedoms and entitlements and would be a part of Article 21. Freedoms include the right to control one’s health and body (for example, sexual and reproductive rights) and to be free from interference (for example, free from torture and non-consensual medical treatment and experimentation).
Entitlements include the right to a system of health protection that gives everyone an equal opportunity to enjoy the highest attainable level of health.
Body
Problems in India’s health sector
- There is a massive shortage of medical staff, infrastructure and last mile connectivity in rural areas. Eg: Doctor : Population 1:1800 and 78% doctors cater to urban India (population of 30%).
- Massive shortages in the supply of services (human resources, hospitals and diagnostic centres in the private/public sector) which are made worse by grossly inequitable availability between and within States.
- Data from the National Health Profile-2019, the total number of hospital beds in the country was 7,13,986 which translates to 0.55 beds per 1000 population.
- Furthermore, the study also highlighted that 12 states that account for 70 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population were found to have hospital beds per 1000 population below the national average of 0.55 beds.
- For example, even a well-placed State such as Tamil Nadu has an over 30% shortage of medical and non-medical professionals in government facilities.
- Health budget: The health budget has neither increased nor is there any policy to strengthen the public/private sector in deficit areas. While the Ayushmaan Bharat provides portability, one must not forget that it will take time for hospitals to be established in deficit areas.
- This in turn could cause patients to gravitate toward the southern States that have a comparatively better health infrastructure than the rest of India.
- Infrastructure constraints: There are doubts on the capacity of India’s infrastructure to take on the additional load of patients during pandemics like Covid-19 as seen recently.
- There is a growing medical tourism (foreign tourists/patients) as a policy being promoted by the government, and also domestic patients, both insured and uninsured.
- Absence of primary care: In the northern States there are hardly any sub-centres and primary health centres are practically non-existent. First mile connectivity to a primary healthcare centre is broken. For eg, in Uttar Pradesh there is one PHC for every 28 villages.
- Out of pocket expenditure high: Even the poor are forced to opt for private healthcare, and, hence, pay from their own pockets. As a result, an estimated 63 million people fall into poverty due to health expenditure, annually.
- Healthcare without holistic approach: There are a lot of determinants for better health like improved drinking water supply and sanitation; better nutritional outcomes, health and education for women and girls; improved air quality and safer roads which are outside the purview of the Health Ministry.
Need for right to health
Impediments to declare it a fundamental right
- The existing public primary health care model in the country is limited in scope.
- Even where there is a well-functioning public primary health centre, only services related to pregnancy care, limited childcare and certain services related to national health programmes are provided.
- Expenditure on public health funding has been consistently low in India (approximately 1.3% of GDP).
- As per OECD, India’s total out-of-pocket expenditure is around 2.3% of GDP.
- The government is committed to spend 2.5% of GDP on health by 2025.
- Sub-optimal health system. Due to this, it is challenging to tackle Non-communicable Diseases, which is all about prevention and early detection.
- It diminishes preparedness and effective management for new and emerging threats such as pandemic like Covid-19.
Measures needed
- The implication of and central to the success of such a reset lies in creating appropriate cadres.
- More immediately, there must be a public health cadre manning the posts at the PHC and CHCs consisting of sub-specialists in family medicine, public health and public health management.
- Likewise, among nurses, the cadre should comprise two distinct sets of personnel — public health nurses (not ANMs promoted based on seniority) and nurse midwives capable of independently doing all clinical functions for handling pregnancies and women’s health issues except surgical interventions.
- Primary care in India can get traction only if new skills, drastically upgraded competencies and a new mindset are embedded within the vision of a patient, family and community-centred health system.
- There is also a need to declutter policy dialogue and provide clarity to the nomenclatures. Currently, public health, family medicine and public health management are used interchangeably.
- It is time our political systems listen to peoples’ voices for a family doctor to ensure their everyday needs — and not easy options like privatisation, commodification and medicalisation of the system.
- Resetting the system to current day realities requires strong political leadership to go beyond the inertia of the techno-administrative status quoist structures.
Conclusion
The lesson emerging most unequivocally from the pandemic experience is that if India does not want a repeat of the immeasurable suffering and the social and economic loss, we need to make public health a central focus. The virus is still around. We have no option but to live with that reality.
Covid has also shifted the policy dialogue from health budgets and medical colleges towards much-needed and badly-delayed institutional reform. It is heartening to note that the Ministry of Health has issued guidelines to states to establish a public health cadre.
Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Difficulty level: Tough
Reference: Insights on India , Insights on India
Why the question:
The question is part of the static syllabus of General studies paper – 1 and mentioned as part of Mission-2023 Secure timetable.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the challenges in the human resource sector and ways to overcome it.
Directive word:
Analyse – When asked to analyse, you must examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start by giving context.
Body:
First, write about the various challenges facing the human resource sector – Throw light on how skill shortages, labour market rigidities, and gender inequality are adversely impacting or constraining the human resource in it. Cite statistic to substantiate.
Next, write about the measures that are needed to overcome the above challenges – a combination of government policies, industry initiatives, and social reforms etc.
Conclusion:
Conclude by writing a way forward.
Introduction
According to the OECD, human capital is defined as “the knowledge, skills, competencies and other attributes embodied in individuals or groups of individuals acquired during their life and used to produce goods, services or ideas in market circumstances”. Investment in human capital is needed for technological growth, improving productivity, creating social innovations, etc.
India’s development trajectory is critically linked with investments in healthcare and education. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is firmly anchored in investing in human capital and inclusive growth. To reap the demographic dividend, the government is committed to improve the outcomes in education and skilling and provide affordable healthcare to all.
Body:
The pandemic has caused disruption in the health, economy, and education of young people and continues to unfold in new psychological and academic trajectories.
Significance of human capital:
- Human capital is central to sustainable growth and poverty reduction.
- Development of human capital enables people to be more productive, flexible, and innovative.
- With rapid technological development, development of human capital has become prerequisite to cater to the changing needs of work.
- With rapid globalization and industrialization, markets demand workforce with higher levels of human capital, especially advanced cognitive and socio-behavioural skills.
India’s human capital status:
- In India, there are over 43 per cent of children under the age of five at risk of not fulfilling their full developmental potential due to poor nutrition, poverty, and lack of early stimulation.
- India ranks 116th amongst 174 countries on the Human Capital Index 2020 based on survival, health, and education, with a slight increase in score to 0.49 from 0.44 in 2018.
- The pandemic has risked the little progress made in building human capital, disrupting health services and pushing more than a billion children out of school.
- The 2019-20 national survey shows worrying trends in malnutrition and reversing progress towards meeting the goal of ending hunger, making efforts for achieving food security due to the pandemic even harder.
- India is home to 3% of the global malaria burden and more than one-fourth of the tuberculosis cases. India’s spending of its GDP on health and education is a mere 1.26 and 3 percent respectively.
- The Economic Survey indicates high out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on health contributing to India’s poverty.
- India’s spending on healthcare is the lowest amongst the BRICS and other developing nations leading to serious supply-side deficits of health facilities and professionals.
- The literacy rate for India is at 78 percent as against global average of 86 percent. It is home to 37 percent of the global total of illiterate adults in the world.
- As per the India Skills Report 2021, there is a decline in percentage of employability score from 46.21 in 2020 to 45.9 in 2021 owing to lack of skill sets.
- The pandemic has led to rise of unemployment, India having the highest unemployed people at 10.4 percent in June 2021 as compared to neighboring Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and, Pakistan at 4.19, 4.20, and 4.45 percent respectively.
- Less than 15 percent rural Indian households have internet access as opposed to 42 percent of their urban counterparts. According to the annual status of education report (rural) 2021, only 18 percent of the rural children attend online classes.
- Reasons for low Human Capital Development in India:
- Health:
- 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.
- ineffective functioning (corruption and leakages) of the public distribution system (PDS), growing economic inequalities and lack of nutritional awareness pose challenges in combating malnutrition
- Education:
- Basic literacy (the ability to read and write) in the overall population has progressed modestly. However, there is persistent gender differentials, and major differentials by caste and religion.
- The state of functional literacy and professional skills is poor. Indian graduates have low employability and does not meet changing economic structure or support global competitiveness.
- Rising Inequality:
- 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.
- Lack of socioeconomic mobility hinders human capital development and traps a large section of population to be in the vicious circle of poverty.
- Lack of Skilling:
- According to the National Sample Survey, out of the 470 million people of working age in India, only 10% receive any kind of training or access to skilled employment opportunities.
- There’s a huge mismatch between demand and supply when it comes to skilled workforce and employment opportunities, which could place a strain on the economy in the long run
- Inadequate use of knowledge bases from technology developments:
- There is a disconnect between India’s rate of technological growth and ability to distribute the gains from it by adequately focusing on skilling and health.
- The use of technical advancements has been concentrated in few sectors and benefits accrued by a few elitist sections of the society.
Way forward:
- 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 Government has been enhancing the expenditure on human capital along with adopting measures to improve the efficiency of expenditure by a convergence of schemes.
- Several labour reform measures including legislative ones are being implemented for the creation of employment opportunities and for providing sustainable livelihoods for the population who are largely engaged in the informal economy.
- 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.
- In essence, developing and empowering human capital to be able to shift to the new technology world seamlessly, should be the top priority of governments.
- Integration of higher education with skills and vocational education. Attracting the most credible talent to the teaching profession. Building global recognition to the education system.
- Streamlining regulation to attract credible private sector entities to education are some structural changes which are needed for transforming education.
- Access to high speed internet, multidisciplinary learning, design thinking, data science and information filtration capabilities are typical for making a future ready workforce.
Conclusion:
The gaps in the expenditure on social infrastructure like health and education are evident. There is a need to strengthen the delivery mechanisms of the government initiatives to ensure transparency and accountability. Protecting and investing in people’s health, education, and skilling is vital for reducing income inequality, and sustained inclusive economic growth. A strong social infrastructure is also the key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Thus, to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend, proper investments in building the human capital of next generation citizens is the need of the hour.
Topic: Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India
Why the question:
A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India is presently hearing a set of cases popularly known as the “Maharashtra political controversy cases”. These cases arose out of the events in June last year, when the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition (the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress) lost power after an internal splintering of the Shiv Sena party.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the shortcomings of the anti-defection law and measures needed to fix them.
Directive word:
Critically examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Write about objectives of anti-defection law.
Body:
First, write about various features of anti-defection pertaining to disqualification.
Next, write as to why the anti-defection has been ineffective in preventing defection and horse trading. Substantiate with examples.
Next, suggest measures needed to rectify this.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction
Defection is “desertion by one member of the party of his loyalty towards his political party” or basically it means “When an elected representative joins another party without resigning his present party for benefits”. The institutional malaise is defection and party-hopping is state- neutral, party-neutral, and politics-neutral.
A five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court of India is presently hearing a set of cases popularly known as the “Maharashtra political controversy cases”. These cases arose out of the events in June last year, when the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition (the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress) lost power after an internal splintering of the Shiv Sena party.
Body
Background
- For a very long time, the Indian political system was impacted by political defections by members of the legislature. This situation brought about greater instability and chaos in the political system.
- Thus, in 1985, to curb the evil of political defections,the 52nd constitution amendment act on Anti-defection law was passed and the 10th Schedule was added in the Indian Constitution.
- The main intent of the law was to combat “the evil of political defections” which may be due to reward of office or other similar considerations.
- The law applies to both Parliament and state assemblies. However, there are several issues in relation to the working of this law.
- 91st Constitution Amendment Act-2003was enacted and was aimed at limiting the size of the Council of Ministers to debar defectors from holding public offices, and to strengthen the anti-defection law.
Flaws of the current Anti-defection law
- Does not prevent Defection: The Anti-defection law has failed to curb “horse trading” and defection, leading to toppling of governments through machinations of corrupt legislators.
- Eg: The 17-MLA’s of coalition government resigned in Karnataka, leading to change in government. The 17 MLA’s later contested from the party that formed new government.
- Wholesale defection: The law prevents individual defections, but not wholesale defections.
- Eg: Congress government in Madhya Pradesh lost majority due to resignations of MLA’s.
- Against the true spirit of representative democracy:The anti-defection law seeks to provide a stable government by ensuring the legislators do not switch sides.
- However, this law also enforces a restriction on legislators from voting in line with their conscience, judgement and interests of his electorate.
- Impedes legislative control on government:The anti-defection law impedes the oversight function of the legislature over the government, by ensuring that members vote based on the decisions taken by the party leadership.
- In short, if legislators are not able to vote on laws independently, they would not act as an effective check on the government.
- The Anti-Defection Law, in effect, dilutes the separation of powers between the Executive and the Legislature – and centralises power in the hands of the executives.
- Role of presiding officer of the house:The law lays down that legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House.
- However, there are many instances when presiding officers play a part with the vested interests of a political party/government in power.
- Also, the law does not specify a time period for the Presiding Officer to decide on a disqualification plea.
- The decision thus is sometimes based on the whims and fancies of the presiding officer.
- Affects the debate and discussion:The Anti-Defection Law has created a democracy of parties and numbers in India, rather than a democracy of debate and discussion.
- In this way, it does not make a differentiation between dissent and defection and weaken the Parliamentary deliberations on any law.
Steps to be taken
- To be used for major decision making: Several experts have suggested that the law should be valid only for those votes that determine the stability of the government. e.g. passage of the annual budget or no-confidence motions as recommended by Dinesh Goswami Committee.
- Non-partisan authority: Various commissions including National Commission to review the working of the constitution (NCRWC) have recommended that rather than the Presiding Officer, the decision to disqualify a member should be made by the President (in case of MPs) or the Governor (in case of MLAs) on the advice of the Election Commission.
- Independent committee for disqualification: Justice Verma in Hollohan judgment said that tenure of the Speaker is dependent on the continuous support of the majority in the House and therefore, he does not satisfy the requirement of such independent adjudicatory authority.
- Also, his choice as the sole arbiter in the matter violates an essential attribute of the basic feature.
- Thus, the need for an independent authority to deal with the cases of defection.
- Intra-party democracy: 170th Law Commission report underscored the importance of intra-party democracy by arguing that a political party cannot be a dictatorship internally and democratic in its functioning outside.
- Thus, the parties should listen to the opinions of the members and have discussions on the same. This would give the freedom of speech and expression to its members and promote inner-party democracy.
- Limiting Speaker’s discretion: Recent Supreme Court Judgement ruled that Speaker must decide on disqualification within three months of receiving application. It cannot be the discretion of the Speaker to take no action.
Conclusion
There is a need to prevent unholy defections that lead to instability in the governance system of the nation. The current law is clearly flawed and has not effectively curbed defection due to lure of power and money. There is a need for a more rationalised version of anti-defection laws which will help establish a truly representative democracy.
General Studies – 3
Topic:Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
Difficulty level: Moderate
Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India
Why the question:
India’s push towards decarbonisation has to be backed with adequate storage facilities, without which it clearly cannot go forward beyond a point.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about the various obstacles to energy security in India and ways to ensure energy security.
Directive word:
Examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we must investigate the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by giving context regarding the energy security in the country.
Body:
First, write about the various impediments to India’s renewable energy sector – High capital costs, Lack of transmission infrastructure, Land acquisition, Storage, Financing challenges etc.
Next, write about ways to balance between clean energy commitments while balancing energy security.
Conclusion:
Conclude with a way forward.
Introduction
Climate sustainability is integral to India’s economic policy while energy security also is equally important in this transitional phase. The energy transition will also have far-reaching implications for energy security, and the ripple effects of unfolding events in Ukraine are a sobering reminder of its relevance.
Clean energy appears to be the future for the power needs of humanity across the globe as reliance of fossil fuels continues to diminish. However, the road to clean energy is not straight forward and here is where the government must rely on calculated measure to balance energy security and net-zero commitments.
Body
Obstacles to renewable energy sector in India
- The country’s demand for energyis set to double by 2040,and its electricity demand may triple.
- India’s power sector has always faced shortage of skilled personnel, not only in the private sector but also within DISCOMs, grid management companies, regulators and policymakers and this problem is being compounded further in the current scenario.
- While Renewable Energy generation is zero-carbon (barring some biofuels), there are emissions at other points of its lifecycle, such as during raw material extraction and equipment manufacturing. There are also RE’s detrimental impacts on biodiversity and ecology.
- Indian oil consumption is expected to grow faster than that of any other major economy (including China). This makes further improving energy security a key priority for India’s economy.
- India’s oil demand is expected to reach 6 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2024from 4.4 million bpd in 2017, but its domestic production is expected to rise only marginally, making the country more reliant on crude imports and more vulnerable to supply disruption in the Middle East.
- India’s oil refining capacity is expected to rise to 5.7 million bpd by 2024,making it a very attractive market for refinery investment.
- Capacity building within India through skill development is of utmost priority. Well-developed training programmes are the need of the hour in India.
- The high initial cost of installation is one of the major hurdles in the development of renewable energy. Although the development of a coal plant requires high investment, it is known that wind and solar power plants also require huge investment.
- In addition to this, storage systems of the generated energy are expensive and represent a real challenge in terms of megawatt production.
- Most renewable energy plants that share their energy with the grid require large areas of space. In most cases, renewable energy sources are dictated by location which can be off-putting to users.
- For instance, some renewable energy sources are simply not available in different regions. Then the distance between the renewable energy source and the grid is a major aspect in terms of cost and efficiency.
- In addition to this, renewable energy sources depend on weather, climate and geographical location, therefore meaning that one type of energy generation is not appropriate for the region.
Ensuring energy security while honouring its net zero commitments
- 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 and move towards cleaner fuel. Vehicular emissions are one of the biggest sources of GHG.
- 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.
- 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 increasing the share of renewable energy in this energy mix.
Conclusion and way forward
- Given the massive shifts underway in India’s energy system, we would benefit from taking stock of our actions and focusing on near-term transitions.
- This will allow us to meet and even over-comply with our 2030 target while also ensuring concomitant developmental benefits, such as developing a vibrant renewable industry.
- We can start putting in place the policies and institutions necessary to move us in the right direction for the longer-term and also better understand, through modelling and other studies, the implications of net-zero scenarios before making a net-zero pledge.
- It would also be in India’s interest to link any future pledge to the achievement of near-term action by industrialised countries.
- That would be fair and consistent with the principles of the UNFCCC and also enhance the feasibility of our own actions through, for example, increasing availability and reducing costs of new mitigation technologies.
There appears to be no turning back on the path of decarbonized economic growth for India. The recent Union budget has made this sufficiently clear. The scale of the challenge is also balanced by an opportunity. It’s the execution that will now determine the pace at which we proceed along that path.
Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, Nano-technology, biotechnology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
Difficulty level: Easy
Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India
Why the question:
A 53-year-old man from Germany, referred to as the Dusseldorf patient, has become at least the third person to have been “cured of HIV” with the virus not being detectable in his body even four years after stopping the medicine. This was achieved with a bone-marrow transplant from people carrying a specific HIV-resistant genetic mutation.
Key Demand of the question:
To write about stem cells, its types and applications.
Directive word:
Discuss – This is an all-encompassing directive – you must debate on paper by going through the details of the issues concerned by examining each one of them. You must give reasons for both for and against arguments.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Begin by defining stem cells.
Body:
First, in detail write about the various types of stem cells and their features – Embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells.
Next, write about the myriad of applications of the stem cell technology and various programmes and initiatives to boost research on stem cells.
Conclusion:
Conclude by summarising.
Introduction
Stem cells are undifferentiated biological cells that can differentiate into specialized cells and can divide to produce more stem cells. They are the body’s raw materials — cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated. Treatments or therapies are used stem cells to prevent or treat any disease are known as stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy promotes the reparative treatment of diseased, dead or injured tissue.
Body
Types of Stem Cells
- Embryonic Stem Cells:
- These are stem cells derived from the blastocyst stage of the embryo.
- The blastocyst is a pre-implantation stage, formed 4 to 5 days after fertilisation.
- They are pluripotent in nature and found in the inner cell mass.
- Totipotent: These stem cells can differentiate into all possible cell types. The first few cells that appear as the zygote starts to divide are totipotent.
- Pluripotent: These cells can turn into almost any cell. Cells from the early embryo are pluripotent.
- Multipotent: These cells can differentiate into a closely related family of cells. Adult hematopoietic stem cells, for example, can become red and white blood cells or platelets.
- Oligopotent: These can differentiate into a few different cell types. Adult lymphoid or myeloid stem cells can do this.
- Unipotent: These can only produce cells of one kind, which is their own type. However, they are still stem cells because they can renew themselves. Examples include adult muscle stem cells.
- Adult Stem Cells:
- Adult stem cells or somatic stem cells are found in both adult and juvenile animals, unlike embryonic stem cells.
- They have the ability to differentiate into any cell of the organ from which they originate.
- Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells:
- These are stem cells that are derived from somatic cells.
- It is a pluripotent stem cell generated by introducing ‘reprogramming factors’ called Yamanaka factorsinto mature cells.
Applications of stem cell technology
- Tissue regeneration
- Tissue regeneration is probably the most important use of stem cells.
- Until now, a person who needed a new kidney, for example, had to wait for a donor and then undergo a transplant.
- There is a shortage of donor organs but, by instructing stem cells to differentiate in a certain way, scientists could use them to grow a specific tissue type or organ.
- Cardiovascular disease treatment
- In 2013, a team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital reported in PNAS Early Editionthat they had created blood vessels in laboratory mice, using human stem cells.
- Within 2 weeks of implanting the stem cells, networks of blood-perfused vessels had formed. The quality of these new blood vessels was as good as the nearby natural ones.
- Brain disease treatment
- Doctors may one day be able to use replacement cells and tissues to treat brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
- In Parkinson’s, for example, damage to brain cells leads to uncontrolled muscle movements. Scientists could use stem cells to replenish the damaged brain tissue.
- This could bring back the specialized brain cells that stop the uncontrolled muscle movements.
- Cell deficiency therapy
- Scientists hope one day to be able to develop healthy heart cells in a laboratory that they can transplant into people with heart disease.
- These new cells could repair heart damage by repopulating the heart with healthy tissue.
- Similarly, people with type I diabetes could receive pancreatic cells to replace the insulin-producing cells that their own immune systems have lost or destroyed.
- Blood disease treatments
- Doctors now routinely use adult hematopoietic stem cells to treat diseases, such as leukemia, sickle cell anemia, and other immunodeficiency problems.
- Hematopoietic stem cells occur in blood and bone marrow and can produce all blood cell types, including red blood cells that carry oxygen and white blood cells that fight disease.
Way forward
- There is a need for implementation of the rules framed by the centre. Despite the existence of regulatory frameworks, scientists, clinics and doctors continue to work with stem cells without proper approval.
- There is a need to encourage reporting of the effects of stem cell therapies’ trials. Evidence-based progress is vital in a dynamic and much-hyped field like stem cell technology.
- There is a need to create awareness about the real benefits and limitations of stem cell therapies to protect patients from unproven therapies offered by profit-driven clinics.
- Regulation of IVF clinics is essential to break the image of India as an ‘embryo supplier’ for dubious research.
- Instead of depending on stem cells derived from embryos, adult stem cells or induced pluripotent stem cells can be worked with to a greater extent.
- Certification of clinics approved for providing stem cell therapy.
- An internationally applicable guideline must be developed by organisations like WHO as this is not an issue to be solved by one country in isolation.
Conclusion
Though advancement in stem cell technology is making strides, there is a need to funnel it through appropriate testing and clinical trials before being used on the general public. For this, a well-functioning regulatory mechanism and responsible research and application are of vital importance.
Topic: Case Study
Introduction
Business ethics, also known as corporate ethics, is a type of applied ethics (ethics focused on real-world scenarios) that focuses on the theories, principles, and values that govern business practices. Business ethics can be a written set of rules or an ethical code that governs a particular company’s ethical conduct.
This is also a case on corporate governance. The purpose of corporate governance is to facilitate effective, entrepreneurial and prudent management that can deliver the long-term success of the company.
Body
Background
- A business that welcomes open and honest feedback from employees who are able to speak-up about wrongdoing, can root out issues and fix them.
- This is a business that will thrive.
- All too often, people who point to suspicious behaviours, possibly illegal activity, or other issues that could devastate a company, are punished for their efforts.
- Retaliation comes in many forms. Some are more obvious, like demotions or employment termination. Some can be more indirect. Marginalization, impromptu negative performance reports, and the continued assigning of unwanted shifts or tasks to the whistleblower are examples of retaliation. Here are ways you can protect whistleblowers from retaliation in the workplace.
- Did Anu make the right choice by whistleblowing?
Yes, Anu made a right choice by whistleblowing. The matter would snowball into a huge crisis which would have impact on financial stability of the company and the country if the money involved is huge. This is also a matter of reputation of the nation and its regulatory bodies for keeping watchful eye on the corporate and their doings. Recently as seen in Adani case, the matter came to light after a report.
If anything, Anu helped in uncovering the wrongdoings sooner than later and making the management take corrective action, thereby protecting the company’s financials as well as well-being.
- As a friend and a colleague of Anu, what would have been your suggestion to her regarding the above issue?
As a friend and colleague I have stake in the company’s reputation and market value. But throwing the matter under carpet, I would be part of the wrongdoing. Hence I would advice Anu to take matter and even help her in doing so and support her.
Collectively we would ensure that the matter came to light and regualtory agencies were involved at the right time. Moreover, even if we got fired, our skill set would have value and we would get a new job. It would be a better choice than working in a company where there were misdeeds taking place.
When employees are scared to report internal issues, they may take their grievances to regulators instead, depriving organizations of the opportunity to the issue.
The effectiveness with which the employer follows the policy on compliance determines if there is a culture of fear of retaliation. The tone at the top, as well as the tone in the middle, is crucial. Employers should revisit, revitalize, and reaffirm their commitment to a strong compliance culture on a regular basis.
Fear of punishment can inhibit internal reporting, depriving a corporation of crucial information regarding internal misconduct.
These circumstances frequently escalate to the point where the company becomes a law enforcement target. A major inquiry can harm a company’s brand, and result in considerable legal costs and criminal charges against the company’s leadership, and translate into revenue loss owing to the termination of important business partnerships.
- How can be the state protect honest and ethical whistle-blowers from negative repercussions?
Measures by company
- Creating a safe work environment for team members is critical to any company’s success. Any organization can accomplish this by creating an anonymous hotline for whistleblowers to speak freely about what is causing the toxic work environment.
- Companies can then encourage team members to use the hotline through emails and signs around the office. For this hotline to be successful, leadership must hold everyone accountable for breaking any policies and, if necessary, create new policies for the workplace.
Measures by government
- First, the Government should amend the Whistleblowers Protection Act to provide universal protection to the whistleblowers in India. Many States in the US (like Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota) have considered both public and private sector employers to be included under the whistleblower’s protection acts.
- Second, a robust reward mechanism must be created under the Whistleblowers Act for incentivisation. At the same time, fines against false and frivolous complaints also need to be enhanced.
- Third, the Government must formulate the Rules necessary to operationalize the Whistleblower Protection Act.
- Fourth, the whistleblowers should be given freedom to report their complaint to independent authorities rather than senior officials. For instance, in the U.S, there are separate offices established under different laws with neutral investigators who are responsible for investigating any claims submitted to them by a whistleblower. They are specifically designed to receive and investigate whistleblower complaints.
Conclusion
The Government needs to ensure that whistleblowers are given an enabling ecosystem wherein they are incentivized and not threatened to disclose the illegal practices carried on in any organization. Strengthening the Whistleblower Protection mechanism is necessary to enhance transparency and accountability in public institutions.
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