[Mission 2023] Insights SECURE SYNOPSIS: 3 June 2023

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

Answer the following questions in 150 words:

General Studies – 1

1. Mughal painting is known for its intricate details, vibrant colors, and sophisticated techniques. It was heavily influenced by Persian, Central Asian, and Indian artistic traditions. Analyse.

Reference: Insights on India

Introduction

Mughal  painting  is  the  style  of  miniature  painting  that  developed  in  the  northern  Indian  subcontinent  in  the  sixteenth  century  and  continued  till  the  mid–nineteenth  century.  It  is  known  for  its  sophisticated  techniques  and  diverse range of subjects and themes. The Mughal miniature painting inspired and resonated in subsequent schools and styles  of  Indian  painting,  thereby,  confirming  a  definite position  for  the  Mughal  style  within  the  Indian  school  of  paintings

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Mughal Paintings: Salient features

• The Mughal pictures were small in size, and hence are known as ‘miniature paintings’.
• Though the Mughal art absorbed the Indian atmosphere, it neither represented the Indian emotions, nor the scenes from the daily life of the Indian.
• Hence, Mughal painting remained confined to the Mughal court and did not reach the people.
• The Mughal rulers brought Persian painters with them. At the same time they patronized Indian painters and the collaboration between these two schools of painters resulted in the synthesis.
• Apart from Persian books of fables, themes from Mahabharata, Ramayana were also selected.
• Indian scenes and landscapes came into vogue.
• Paintings were based upon close observation of nature with high aesthetic merit.
• Under Jahangir, the Mughal school paintings acquired greater charm, refinement and dignity.
• The emperor Jahangir had a great fascination for nature and took delight in the portraiture of birds, animals and flowers.
• Inspired by their overlord, the Mughal courtiers and the provincial officers started patronizing the artists trained in the Mughal technique of painting.
• The artists who were employed in the Imperial Government were known as the first grade artists. The works accomplished by these first grade artists is known as the Imperial Mughal Painting.
• Artists available to the provinces were of inferior merit, thus, the works accomplished in the provinces was known as ‘Popular Mughal’ or ‘Provincial Mughal’ painting, which possessed all the important characteristics of the Imperial Mughal painting with some inferior quality.

Mughal paintings involved a diverse range of subjects and themes

Life and times of Mughal rulers:

• Mughal painting marks a unique blend of Persian and Indian ideas. Mughal painting was essentially a court art, developed under the patronage of the ruling Mughal emperors and began to decline when the rulers lost interest.
• The subjects treated were generally secular, revolving around themes like battles, court scenes, receptions, legendary stories, hunting scenes, wildlife, portraits, and the likes.
• Imperial Mughal painting represents one of the most celebrated art forms of India. It arose with remarkable rapidity in the mid-sixteenth century as a blending of three distinct traditions:
  • Court painting of Safavid Iran.
  • Indigenous Indian devotional manuscript illumination.
  • Indo-Persian or Sultanate painting, which is it is a hybrid of provincial Persian and local Indian styles.
• The result of this merging resulted in paintings of unprecedented vitality, brilliant coloration, and impossibly precise detail, is something dramatically more than the sum of its parts.

Contemporary social and political life of the people:

• Mughal Court paintings provide an insight into the life and times of rulers of the period. These paintings also reflect the contemporary social and political condition of the people. Social customs and courtly traditions are vividly depicted in these paintings.
• Mughal painting forms a dramatic episode in the history of India. Its aims and standpoint are secular and realistic: it is interested in passing events and most typically in the exact delineation of individual character in the portraiture of men and animals.
• It is dramatic rather than static, aristocratic more than surreal and academic rather than vocational.
• After Mughal, there came “company paintings” in India. But they were not as realistic and detailed as Mughal miniature paintings.

Conclusion

When the Mughal Empire was in decadence, various other schools of painting with Mughal influence emerged in several regional courts, including the Rajput and Pahari paintings.

Value addition

Contributions of Mughal emperors to Painting:

Akbar:

• Akbar ordered the creation of many paintings and also paid close attention to the final output of all these artworks.
• He was very particular about the details and the artistic elements involved.
• Akbar had an impressive number of painters in his court. Between 1560 and 1577, he commissioned a number of massive painting projects.
• One of the earliest painting projects commissioned by Akbar was ‘Tutinama’ which literally translates to ‘Tales of a Parrot.’ There is Hamzanama as well.
• Akbar and his successors brought revolutionary changes to painting and sensual illustrations.
• From this period book illumination or individual miniatures replaced wall painting as the most vital form of art.
• Akbar also encouraged the art of making portraits.

Jahangir:

• Much like his father (Akbar), Jahangir too had an inclination toward arts, which proved beneficial for the growth of Mughal art.
• The Mughal painting continued to grow under his reign.
• It is generally stated that during Jahangir’s time, the art of painting reached its climax and with him departed its soul.
• Jahangir was not only interested in painting; he was also its keen judge. He established a gallery of painting in his own garden.
• Since Jahangir was largely influenced by European painting, he ordered his painters to follow the single point perspective used by European artists.
• This gave a whole new perspective to the Mughal painting.
• Jahangir even used European paintings that portrayed the images of Kings and Queens as references and asked his painters to take a leaf out of these paintings.
• As a result, most of the Mughal paintings commissioned by Jahangir had finer brush strokes and lighter colours.
• One of the major projects commissioned by him was the ‘Jahangirnama.’
• It was an autobiography of Jahangir and it consisted of several paintings that included unusual themes, such as fights between spiders.
• Several individual portraits of Jahangir were also made by his painters.
• However, he also commissioned many paintings of birds, animals and flowers which were portrayed in a realistic manner.
• Artists began to use vibrant colours such as peacock blue and red and were able to give three dimensional effects to paintings
• Overall, the Mughal painting continued to flourish and also continued to evolve under Jahangir’s rule.

Shahjahan:

• Though Mughal painting continued to expand during the reign of Shah Jahan, the paintings that were displayed in the court became increasingly rigid and formal.
• However, he commissioned a large number of paintings meant to be his personal collection.
• These paintings were based on themes like gardens and pictures that gave great aesthetic pleasure.
• He also ordered many works that portrayed lovers in intimate positions.
• One of the most important works produced during his reign was the ‘Padshanama.’
• This work was made to look lavish with generous volumes of gold plating.
• The ‘Padshanama,’ which narrated the achievements of the King, contained several paintings of the courtiers and servants as well.
• The work was so elaborate that even servants were painted with amazing details that provided a great individuality to each and every character.
• While the servants and courtiers were portrayed using the frontal view technique, the king and other important dignitaries were portrayed by adhering to the rules of strict metamodeling.
• During the reign of Shah Jahan, the aesthetics of Mughal painting were retained which contributed to the growth and development of Mughal paintings.
• Many of the paintings produced under the leadership of Shah Jahan are now housed at various museums around the world.

2. What factors contribute to the decline in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of India? Evaluate the difficulties that India faces as its fertility rate decreases in a thorough manner.

Reference: Live Mint , Insights on India

Introduction

Total fertility rate (TFR) indicates the average number of children expected to be born to a woman during her reproductive span of 15-49 years. The data in NFHS 2019-21, the fifth in the survey series, shows the fertility rate at 1.6 per cent in urban areas and 2.1 in rural India.

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Recently released data from National Family Health Survey’s fifth round (NFHS-5) reveal that India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has decreased to 2.0 from 2.2 in the previous round. TFR is the number of children born to a heterosexual couple during their reproductive life. Given that 2.1 is the figure at which the population is maintained at a stable level, taking into account the likelihood of some child deaths, the latest number suggests that the spectre of population explosion need no longer haunt India.

Even as the goal of population stabilisation is being achieved, it is imperative that we invest in fostering the health and wellbeing of all our people, throughout their life course. Decline in fertility frees up funds for investment in development of our human resources.

Value addition

Trends in the declining Total Fertility Rate in India

• NFHS-5 places the total fertility rate (TFR) at 2.0. known as replacement level of fertility. This decline is spread evenly across the country.
  • 28 states and UTs have a TFR of 9 or less, with seven below 1.6.
  • All southern states have a TFR of 1.7-1.8, similar to that of Sweden.
• Even states that have not reached replacement fertility — Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — seem to be head in that direction.
• Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan that were part of the lagging states have achieved TFRs of 0.
• With falling fertility (currently 2.0), the median age of India has risen from 24 years in 2011 to 29 years now and is expected to be 36 years by 2036.
  • With a falling dependency ratio (expected to decrease from 65% to 54% in the coming decade taking 15-59 years as the working age population), India is in the middle of a demographic transition.

Reasons for falling fertility rate:

• Higher education, increased mobility, late marriage, financially independent women, overall prosperityare all contributing to a falling TFR.
• It goes below 2 in both urban and rural areas, where girls complete schooling and reduces further as they pass college.
• Bihar, with the highest TFR of 3.2, had the maximum percentage of illiterate women at 26.8%, while Kerala, where the literacy rate among women is 99.3%, had among the lowest fertility rates.
• Increased focus on family planning by use of Contraceptives, increased tubectomies and relatively lesser vasectomies have also contributed to the reducing TFR.
• Urbanization, reduced joint family system, increasing nuclear and single-parent families, higher cost of living in urban areas and higher wages have discouraged aspiring parents to reduce the number of kids.
• Working people in urban areas want better pay, implying that they have to reduce the number of children so as to increase the time they spend at their workplace.
• As more cities come up, people move for jobs and employment tenure gets shorter, TFR may fall further.

Decreasing fertility rate and its challenges:

• The decrease in fertility and the associated decrease in the dependency ratio, in turn lead to an increase in the share of the population concentrated in the working ages and hence in the ratio of the working age to the non-working age population.
• Dependency ratio:
  • The proportion of workers rises sharply, even as the proportion of dependants falls. In many countries, the ratio of workers to dependents goes up, giving a huge boost to per capita income.
  • India will see a significant rise in working age adults India’s dependency ratio that is the number of dependents to working people is low at 0.6, compared with the developed countries. That ratio is going to decline further with fertility rates continuing to fall.
• For the next few decades India will have a youthful, dynamic and productive workforce than the rest of the world.
• A demographic trend where the proportion of persons aged 15-24 in the population increases significantly compared to other age groups which paired with limited employment opportunities may contribute to increased poverty, hunger, malnutrition, poorer health, lower educational outcomes, child labour, unsupervised and abandoned children, and rising rates of domestic violence.
• Education constraints:
  • There are serious problems with Indian higher education. These include a shortage of high quality faculty, poor incentive structures, lack of good regulation
  • India is home to the world’s largest concentration of illiterate people in the world
• Health:
  • At the primary level, there are also serious problems with health and nutrition that impact the effectiveness of education and the capacity for learning.
  • In future large proportion of older working aged people who face longer periods of retirement, accumulate assets to support themselves.

Way forward:

• Health and education parameters need to be improved substantially to make the Indian workforce efficient and skilled.
• Enhance, support and coordinate private sector initiatives for skill development through appropriate Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models; strive for significant operational and financial involvement from the private sector
• Focus on underprivileged sections of society and backward regions of the country thereby enabling a move out of poverty; similarly, focus significantly on the unorganized or informal sector workforce.
• Measures should have pan Indian presence and not just concentrated in metropolitan cities as most of the workforce is likely to come from the rural hinterland.
• 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 more inclusive societies
• New technology could be exploited to accelerate the pace of building human capital, including massive open online courses and virtual classrooms
• Policymakers should have a greater incentive to redouble their efforts to promote human capital so that it can contribute to economic growth and job creation

Value addition

Findings from NFHS-5

• NFHS-5 finds that there has been a significant increase in current use of any modern contraceptive method, which stands at 56.5 per cent in 2019-21 against 47.8 per cent in 2015-16. The share of condoms is 9.5 per cent against 5.6 per cent in 2015-16.
• The uptake of female sterilisation has gone up to 38 per cent against 36 per cent in 2015-16.
• The uptake of injectable contraceptives, introduced in 2017, remains abysmally low at 0.6 per cent.
• The increase in female sterilisation shows that the onus of family planning remains with women, with men not participating in the process and “shrugging responsibility.
• The quality of care in family planning has shown significant improvement with 62 per cent of current users reporting that they received information on side effects from service providers. This has increased from 46 per cent in the last survey.
• The number of women who have a bank account they operate themselves has increased significantly from 53 per cent in 2015-16 to 79 percent, the data show.

General Studies – 2

3. Parliaments play a crucial role in democratic systems and serve several key purposes. ts functions are vital for the functioning of a democratic society, upholding the rule of law, and safeguarding citizens’ rights and freedoms. Elucidate.

Reference: Indian Express , Insights on India

Introduction

India has a parliamentary system of government. The Union Parliament consists of two houses- Rajya Sabha & Lok Sabha and President of India. The functions of the Parliament are mentioned in the Indian Constitution in Chapter II of Part V. The functions of the Parliament can be classified under several heads.

In the 75th year of Independence, India’s new Parliament building, embodying the culture, pride and spirit of the entire nation, was recently inaugurated by the PM of India.

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Functions of the Parliament

• Law Making:
  • A modern Parliament, either in India or in any other country, is not merely a law making body. It has many other functions to do. But still, the most important function among them is the function of law-making. Parliament can make laws on a wide range of subjects allotted to it under the Union and the Concurrent lists in the VII schedule to the Constitution. Residual powers also vests with the parliament in the matters that are not specifically assigned to the States. States can make law on subjects enumerated in the State list.
• Administrative Accountability Function:
  • In India, Parliament does not interfere with the day to day administration of the executive but exercise surveillance on it. Parliamentary scrutiny is exercised through various procedures like questions, motions, discussions etc.
• Question Hour:
  • Question hour is the hour where members of the parliament can raise any question with regard to the administrative activity. There the concerned minister is obliged to answer to the parliament, either orally or in writing. Questions may be either starred or non-starred.
• Discussions:
  • When the member who raised a question feels that the answer given to a question is not complete, he may be allowed by the speaker of the house to raise a discussion in the house for half an hour. This is generally termed as the Half an Hour discussion.
• Committees:
  • Another method of having administrative surveillance is by way of Parliamentary Committees. They may be either Standing Committees or the Adhoc Committees. Standing Committees are constituted every year and they work on a continuous basis whereas the Adhoc Committees are created temporarily for a specific task. There are Standing Committees both in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
• Executive Responsibility:
  • In India, head of the executive is the President and the executive powers are vested in him and are taken in his name. But he is only the formal head as he acts only on the aid and advice of the council of ministers. The parliamentary control over the executive is based on the constitutional provisions of collective responsibility of Council of ministers to the House of people. This has been specifically enshrined in Article 75(3) of the Indian Constitution.
• Collective Responsibility:
  • The collective responsibility concept lies on the principles that the minister must not vote against the government policy or speak against the government policy and all the decisions taken by a minister is the decision of the government. The ministers are also individually responsible to the head of the State in the sense that Ministers hold office during the pleasure of the President.
• Conflict Resolution and National Integration Role:
  • Conflicts are natural to man. Conflicts may be either of ideas or interests or may be for the struggle for power by various contending forces. The role played by the Parliament in resolving conflict is great. That is there the members of parliament who are from the different parts of the country irrespective of their caste, creed, religion or region; they meet informally and discuss in groups the problems which affect the country as a whole. It creates the feelings of national integrity.
• Informational Role:
  • The parliament also has its significant function of informational role. That means the parliament has right of being informed. Government should feed the parliament with information’s by way of reports or by way of lying papers on the table of the house or by placing documents in the parliamentary library.

Powers of the parliament:

• Legislative Powers: All the subjects in our constitution are divided among state, union and concurrent lists. In concurrent list Parliamentary law is over riding than state legislative law. Constitution also have powers to make law with respect to state legislature in following circumstances:
  • When Rajya Sabha passes a resolution to that effect
  • When national emergency is under operation
  • When two or more states request parliament to do so
  • When necessary to give effect to international agreements, treaties and conventions
  • When President’s rule is in operation.
• Executive Powers:According to parliamentary form of government executive is responsible to the parliament for its acts and policies. Hence parliament exercises control by various measures like committees, question hour, zero hour etc. ministers are collectively responsible to the Parliament.
• Financial Powers:It includes enactment of budget, scrutinizing the performance of government with respect of financial spending through financial committees (post budgetary control)
• Constituent Powers: The Parliament also has the power to alter, repeal or amend any provision of the Constitution and such amendments cannot be question before any court of law on any ground unless they tend to alter or violate the ‘basic structure’ of the Constitution.
• Judicial Powers:
  • Impeachment of President for violation of constitution
  • Removal of judges of Supreme Court and High court
  • Removal of Vice- President
  • Punish members for breach of privileges like sitting in the house when the member knows he is not an eligible member, serving as member before taking oath etc.
• Electoral Powers:It has its participation in the election of President and Vice-President. The members of Lok Sabha elects speaker and deputy speaker from among its members. Similarly, members of Rajya Sabha elects deputy chairman.
• Other Powers:
  • To discuss various issues of national and international importance
  • Imposing emergency
  • Increase or decrease area, change names, alter the boundary of the states
  • Create or abolish state legislature etc. any powers can be added from time to time

Conclusion

Constitution of India is the law of our land and all the three organs, the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary are the machineries formed under the foundation of this Constitution. Constitution of India is been formed on the principles of rule of law, so Legislature in India has been vested with its constitutional functions and powers and so has limitation too. It can be said that the prime function of legislature is to anchor for the will of the people and to enact laws. But legislature is not the actual law makers but the executive is. And judiciary plays its vital role in guarding the constitution, the sentinel on the qui vive.

General Studies – 3

4. Given its inclusive growth targets, how can India bridge the climate funding gap, and what are some potential innovative strategies that can be adopted?

Reference: Live Mint

Introduction

Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth’s climate system and caused change on a global scale

Climate finance refers to local, national, or transnational financing—drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing—that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions that will address climate change.

The UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement call for financial assistance from Parties with more financial resources (Developed Countries) to those that are less endowed and more vulnerable (Developing Countries).This is in accordance with the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibility and Respective Capabilities” (CBDR).

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Background

• In 2009, at the UNFCCC COP15 (held in Copenhagen), the developed country parties, to achieve meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation, jointly set a target of USD 100 billion a year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries.
• The climate finance goal was then formally recognized by the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties at COP16 in Cancun.
  • At COP21 in Paris, Parties extended the $100 billion goals through 2025.
• After COP26 there was a consensus that developed nations will double their collective provision of adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025, in order to achieve this balance between adaptation and mitigation.
• Despite the G7 having accepted the need for transfer of funds at Rio in 1992, the promise made in 2009 to provide at least 100 billion dollars per year in climate finance remains unfulfilled.
• Climate finance is needed for mitigation because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce emissions.
• Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.
• Climate Financing recognizes that the contribution of countries to climate change and their capacity to prevent it and cope with its consequences vary enormously.
  • Hence, developed countries should also continue to take the lead in mobilizing climate finance through a variety of actions, including supporting country-driven strategies and taking into account the needs and priorities of developing country Parties.
• Climate finance is critical to tackle the issues posed by climate change and achieve the goal of limiting the rise in the earth’s average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels, something the 2018 IPCC report has predicted.

Gaps in climate funding and bridging the gap

• Funding Biases: Despite the existence of various financing sources, there has been an inherent funding bias (more than 80%) in favour of climate-change mitigation activities. Adaptation measures remain under-funded. This can be attributed to: (a) Results from mitigation investment are perceptible in the short run, g. returns on investments in energy efficiency or in renewable energy can be perceived through the financial cost savings, as well as from the estimable break-even periods. The same is not true for adaptation projects. For instance, returns on investment in cyclone-resistant structures might not be perceptible if cyclones do not occur; (b) Adaptation projects find less traction amongst funding agencies because of the “public goods” nature of such projects. The private sector does not consider financing “public goods” as viable investments.
• Missed Target: According to an expert report prepared at the request of the UN Secretary-General, the US$ 100 billion target is not being met (available data for 2018 is US$ 79 billion), even though climate finance is on an “upward ” trajectory. Moreover, the annual US$ 100 billion commitment, “is a floor and not a ceiling” for climate finance, according to the UN.
• Gap in Finance, Low Target: The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that adaptation costs alone faced by developing countries will be in a range of US$ 140-300 billion per year by 2030, and US$ 280-500 billion annually by 2050. IPCC estimates that US$ 1.6–3.8 trillion is required annually to avoid warming exceeding 1.5°C. In this context, the target of US$ 100 billion per year is very low.
• Pandemic and its economic effects: The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), a non-profit research group based in San Francisco, California, warns that the pandemic and its economic effects have put an emphasis on spending in areas such as public health (developed nations spent trillions to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic), making the mid-to-long-term prospects of climate finance uncertain.

Strategies to be adopted

• Carbon Markets and Carbon Credits are components of emissions trading, a market-based approach to to reduce the concentration of Greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. It works by providing economic incentives for reducing the emissions of the designated pollutants. A carbon market allows investors and corporations to trade both carbon credits and carbon offsets simultaneously.
• Carbon credits (or allowances) work like permission slips for emissions.
  • When a company buys a carbon credit, they gain permission to generate more CO2 emissions.
• Climate finance has to be made predictable and assured. The developed countries should own up their responsibility and provide enhanced funding for adaptation.
• In addition to enhanced support, processes and mechanisms must be developed to ensure transparency in funding (e.g., to check greenwashing) and proper use of funds (to prevent diversion). Proper auditing and reporting mechanisms can ensure transparency. National Budgets can also have separate line items to provide clarity on funding receipts and usage.
• Climate Financing must be guided by principle of equity. The focus should be on providing assistance to the poor and the most vulnerable nations while ensuring development to raise living standards.
• Gender aspects should be given due consideration, as women remain disproportionately affected by climate change. In this context, a framework has been suggested by a UK-based think tank.

Conclusion

Climate Finance so far has remained an unfulfilled promise. As Al Gore emphasised, it is time to realize that the window to act to address climate change is getting shortened and developed countries are “not doing enough”. Climate Finance is the most potent tool to mitigate and adapt to effects of climate change. The faster the consensus on climate finance is reached, the better. In this context, all levers, public and private should be mobilized to meet the enhanced financing target.

Value addition

Climate finance options

• Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established by UNFCCC to operate the financial mechanism under the Convention on an on-going basis, subject to review every four years to provide funds to developing countries.
• Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) was created in 2001 to complement other funding mechanisms to finance projects relating to: (a) capacity-building; (b) adaptation; (c) Technology Transfer; (d) Climate change mitigation and economic diversification for countries highly dependent on income from fossil
• Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) is intended to support a special work programme to assist the LDCs.
• Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) allows a developed country with an emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one tonne of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.
• Adaptation Fund became operational with the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2008 to finance practical adaptation projects and programmes in developing countries and support capacity-building activities.
• Climate Investment Fund (CIF) was established in 2008 by several multilateral development banks. The CIF has balanced and equitable governance with equal representation from developed and developing countries. It includes: (a) Clean Technology Fund: Finances transfer of low carbon technologies; (b) Strategic Climate Fund: Targeted programs to pilot new approaches and improvements.

5. Discuss the challenges posed by cybercrimes in the digital age and suggest measures to combat them.

Reference: Live Mint , Insights on India

Introduction

Cybercrime is any criminal activity that is committed using digital devices or the internet. Examples of cybercrime include hacking, identity theft, cyberstalking, and phishing. It is a threat to country’s external and internal security and monetary status. Crimes committed against publics with an illicit intention to cause physical or psychological harm, or loss to the victim directly or indirectly, by means of contemporary telecommunication networks such as social media network, the Internet and mobile phones.

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Challenges posed by cyber crimes

• Stolen personal and financial data – used, for example, to gain access to existing bank accounts and credit cards, or to fraudulently establish new lines of credit – has a monetary value.
• This drives a range of criminal activities, including phishing, pharming, malware distribution and the hacking of corporate databases, and is supported by a fully-fledged infrastructure of malicious code writers, specialist web hosts and individuals able to lease networks of many thousands of compromised computers to carry out automated attacks.
• Cyber crime is a truly global criminal phenomenon which blurs the traditional distinction between threats to internal (criminality and terrorist activity) and external (i.e. military) security and does not respond to single jurisdiction approaches to policing.
• The cyber space has provided an advantageous platform for cybercriminals for executing their malicious activities, spreading hate propaganda, etc. over the internet. E.g.: Hate speech, Doctored videos leading to communal clashes.
• Cyber extortion is used as an umbrella term for a wide array of cyber-crimes. Cyber extortion occurs when hackers or cyber-criminals try to threaten a targeted business or organisation to compromise its confidential data unless they receive a ransom. Therefore the two most common types of Cyber extortion are ransomware and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) Attacks.
• One of the most witnessed form of exploitation is cyber harassment. Cyber harassement which is defined as unsolicited, repeated, hostile behaviour by a person using cyberspace with the intention of intimidating, harassing, threatening or humiliating a person. E.g: Cyber Stalking, Cyber Bullying etc.
• promotion and easy availability of pornography especially Child pornography which refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child. Abuse of the child occurs during the sexual acts which are recorded in the production of child pornography.
• Nowadays, cybercrimes do not only confine itself to fraud, cyber bullying, identity thefts but also infringement of copyrights and trademarks of various business and other organisations.

Measures to combat the cyber-crimes:

• Real-time intelligence is required for preventing and containing cyber attacks.
• Periodical ‘Backup of Data’ is a solution to ransomware.
• Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for predicting and accurately identifying attacks.
• Using the knowledge gained from actual attacks that have already taken place in building effective and pragmatic defence.
• Increased awareness about cyber threats for which digital literacy is required first.
• India needs to secure its computing environment and IoT with current tools, patches, updates and best-known methods in a timely manner.
• The need of the hour for Indian government is to develop core skills in cyber security, data integrity and data security fields while also setting stringent cyber security standards to protect banks and financial institutions.
• Global Cyber Law should be implemented.
• More centralized coordination at regional and interregional levels, to streamline the fight against cyber crime.
• Collaboration, particularly with the private sector, to proactively identify features of future communications technologies liable to criminal exploitation, and to design vulnerabilities out of technologies and environments which are in development.

Conclusion

Cybercrime poses a significant challenge to law enforcement agencies in the digital era. The anonymity and jurisdictional issues associated with cybercrime make it challenging to identify and prosecute perpetrators. However, the introduction of new laws and regulations, as well as increased international cooperation, is essential in addressing the challenge of cybercrime. As technology continues to evolve, governments and organizations must remain vigilant and work towards developing more robust legal frameworks to tackle cybercrime.

Value addition

Types of cyber security threats: Cyber Security is protecting cyber space including critical information infrastructure from attack, damage, misuse and economic espionage.

Answer the following questions in 250 words(15 marks each):

General Studies – 1

6. By removing barriers and creating a level playing field, the country can harness the untapped potential of its diverse population, leading to scientific advancements that benefit society as a whole. Discuss.

Reference: Indian Express

Introduction

Science, technology, engineering, and medicine –together known as ‘STEM’ fields –suffer from lack of women, especially in India. In school exam results, we hear of how girls have outshone boys, but when it comes to those who take up research in later life, the number of women is minuscule. This means that many of our best brains that showed the maximum potential do not pick research as a career.

Since independence, successive governments in India have taken many steps in bringing gender empowerment. However, various developmental indices reflect that still, a lot needs to be done in this regard. One such area of improvement is increasing gender participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.

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India tops world rankings in producing female graduates in STEM with 43% but employs only 14% of them. In comparison, Sweden produces 35% female STEM graduates and employs 34% of them.

Status of Women in STEM Fields

• About 43% of STEM graduates in India may be women, which is the highest in the world, but women’s share in STEM jobs in India is a mere 14%.
• Most of the women STEM graduates in India either pursue another career or do not work at all. Women across the world face the ‘leaky pipeline’ problem in STEM fields.
• Women leave the workforce, due to the absence of supportive institutional structures during pregnancy, safety issues in fieldwork and the workplace.
• The STEM field is so perpetuated with gender stereotypes. It has a very strong male-dominated culture. Further, there is a lack of role models for girls and women.
• Not just societal norms but issues related to poor education and healthcare access are responsible for a lesser number of women in these fields.

However, as per the Department of Science and Technology data, the number of women scientists has gone up in over the past two decades. The findings of a report in August 2022 are as follows

• Women among researchers: Increased from  9% (2015) to 18.7% (2018)
• Good number of participation of women till post-graduate level and then there is a drop at the post-doctoral level.
• Women in Engineering (14.5%) < Women in natural Science (22.5%) < Women in Health (24.5%)

Reasons for this gender gap

• When highly qualified women drop out of the workforce, it results in considerable depletion of national resources in science and technology.
• Stereotypes encountered by girls to the family-caring responsibilities.
• Patriarchal society.
• Women face bias when choosing a career.
• Women continue to face the same kind of discrimination at work as they face in society.
• According to a recent Accenture research report, the gender pay gap in India is as high as 67 percent.
• Various studies have found that girls excel at mathematics and science-oriented subjects in school, but boys often believe they can do better, which shapes their choices in higher studies.
• In 2015, an analysis of PISA scores by OECD found that the difference in math scores between high-achieving boys and girls was the equivalent of about half a year at school.
• But when comparing boys and girls who reported similar levels of self-confidence and anxiety about mathematics, the gender gap in performance disappeared — when girls were more anxious, they tended to perform poorly.

Government Initiatives so far to bridge the gender gap in STEM: 

• Vigyan Jyoti scheme:
  • Announced in the 2017 budget for the Ministry of Science and Technology.
  • The scheme aims to arrange for girl students of classes 9, 10 and 11 meet women scientists, with the IITs and the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research.
  • It is intended to create a level-playing field for the meritorious girls in high school to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in their higher education
  • It also offers exposure for girl students from the rural background to help to plan their journey from school to a job of their choice in the field of science.
• GATI Scheme:
  • The Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) will develop a comprehensive Charter and a framework for assessing Gender Equality in STEM.
• Inspire-MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge)
  • Attract talented young boys and girls to study science and pursue research as a career.
• Unnat Bharat Abhiyan programme
  • Launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development in 2014.
  • Connect India’s elite institutes with local communities and address their developmental challenges with appropriate technological interventions.
• Indo-US fellowship for women in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine to participate in international collaborative research in premier institutions in America
• Women-centric programmes under the Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN)initiative
• Bio-technology Career Advancement and Reorientation (Bio-Care)

Way Forward

• Promote gender equality as an explicit human right.
• Identify and eliminate practices that create systemic and structural impediments to the advancement of women in science.
• Support the empowerment of women to enable them to flourish in the scientific profession.
• Identify potential risks and hindrances to women in their pursuit of science and implement strategies to eliminate them.
• Engage with the Government of India, scientific institutions and the civil society to promote and support gender equality in general, and in science in particular.
• Replicating ISRO Model:The role of women engineers in the launch of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s second moon mission, Chandrayaan-2 shows that how social shackles pertaining to women are loosening. Thus, there is a need for emulating ISRO’s model in STEM fields.
• Bringing Behavioural Change:Subdued gender participation emanates from social-economic issues, which can be treated by bringing behavioural change. For this, the contributions of women in the STEM sector should be highlighted in textbooks. This may motivate the next generation of girls to be leaders in the STEM sector.
• Women’s participation in STEM should be encouraged from primary school level rather only in higher studies.
• Awareness about gender inequality and its outcome has to be increased and the community should be supportive and understanding of career prospects for women.
• Companies can provide more internship opportunities for women and give STEM scholarships to meritorious yet economically backward girls.
• India’s forthcoming Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy (STIP) should focus on the thrust on gender equity and inclusion. Digital India too provides an opportunity to impart education in the STEM field to women.

Conclusion

A research report by McKinsey said that narrowing the gender gap in STEM can lead to an increase of $12-28 trillion in the global economy. Thus, India should look at Gender equality as an essential facet of the development perspective.

General Studies – 2

7. Explain the key policy changes recommended by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its report to achieve net zero emissions by 2070 in India. How can these policy measures contribute to combating climate change and promoting sustainable economic growth?

Reference: Live Mint

Introduction

In the Report on Currency and Finance, the RBI has highlighted various concerns associated with achieving desired growth rate while controlling the emission targets.

As per the report, if India wants to become a developed country by 2047-48, its GDP growth rate should be 9.6% per annum up to 2047-48.

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About RBI report

• As per the RBI report, India can – a) increase the level of energy efficiency i.e., reduce the energy used per unit of GDP and b) increase the greenness of energy i.e., reduce emissions per unit of energy.
• At present, India’s energy efficiency has been improving at 2.3% per annum over the last 10 years. However, it needs to be accelerated to 5%.
• Similarly, the share of green energy in primary energy has to be increased to 70% – 82% of the total by 2070.

Policy recommendation by RBI to achieve net zero emissions by 2070

• Prioritizing Areas: As per the RBI report, India needs to intervene in some major areas which needs to be implemented over the next 10 years.
  • Shifting power generation away from coal-based thermal power towards solar, wind and other green sources is the one of the priority areas because this will lead to almost half of the reduction in emissions.
• Phasing down coal-based power plants: As per the RBI report, the govt. should ensure that no new coal-based thermal power plants will be set up after a certain period.
  • Phasing down coal-based power plants may also lead to phasing out coal mines, which can have implications on employment and state finances. India needs to prepare itself for such challenges.
• Investments: Raising the share of green energy to 70% or 82% of total energy by 2070 will involve massive investments in building electricity generation, storage and transmission capacity and also in developing infrastructure for green hydrogen.
  • Since a large part of investments will be taken by the private sector, there is a need for a policy environment that will encourage such investment.
• Carbon tax or cap-and-trade system: The RBI report highlights the issue of imposing such a system. The Electricity Amendment Act makes provision for introducing a cap-and-trade system. However, whether an explicit carbon tax would be better needs to be carefully examined.
  • Moreover, either option would raise the cost of coal to users and this would be reflected in the price of coal-based electricity.
  • Such mechanisms might enhance the competitiveness of green electricity without implementing mandatory renewable purchase obligations on discoms.
  • However, despite such concerns, a big advantage of carbon taxation is that it raises revenue.
  • Since both the central and state governments do not have enough fiscal space for the transitions, carbon taxation will provide required resources.

Conclusion

Improvements in energy efficiency are critical to reduce emissions. Therefore, there is a need to switch to more energy-efficient systems and implement more energy-efficient building designs.

8. Throw light on the importance of menstrual health as a public health issue and the challenges faced by women and girls in this regard. Also, explain the measures that can be undertaken to improve menstrual health as part of public health initiatives.

Reference: The Hindu

Introduction

Menstrual hygiene refers to the practices and conditions that help maintain menstrual health and well-being. It includes using clean and safe menstrual products, washing and changing them regularly, having access to clean water and sanitation facilities, and managing menstrual pain and discomfort.

The theme of Menstrual Hygiene Day 2023 is to make menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030. The predominant objective is to create a world where no one is held back because they menstruate.

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importance of menstrual health

• India is home to more than 350 million women and girls who menstruate every month.
• However, menstruation is still a taboo and a source of shame and discrimination for many of them.
• In a recent incident, a man from a city in Maharashtra allegedly killed his 12-year-old sister because he mistook period stains on her clothes as a sign of a sexual relationship.
• According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5), even though there has been significant progress in the past years, approximately 27% of young rural women still resort to unsanitary means of protection during their menstrual cycle.
• Among the urban population, 10% of young women reported using unhygienic methods.
• As per the report, 16 states and union territories (UTs) have a usage rate of over 90% for hygienic menstrual products.
• Nevertheless, some of the most impoverished states in India have a poor record in this regard.
• Bihar has the lowest usage rate (59%) of safe menstrual protection, followed by Madhya Pradesh (61%) and Meghalaya (65%).

Challenges faced by women and girls

• Period Poverty: A survey conducted by the NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) revealed that access to sanitary pads was limited to many girls, with 44.5% of girls admitting to using homemade absorbents or cloth. The report also found that around 11.3% of the girls did not know the correct cause of menstruation and said that it was a curse from God or caused by disease.
• Access to toilet: An estimated 355 million Indian women and girlsmust find ways to cope with monthly menstrual hygiene. Most of these women either have no access to toilets or are faced with unclean lavatory
• Access and safety:Moreover, they usually wait until night-time before using public toilets or fields, which exposes them to various forms of physical attacks.
• Lack of awareness: The main reasons for this taboo still being relevant in the Indian society are high rate of illiteracy especially in girls, poverty and lack of awareness about menstrual health and hygiene. Only less than 18 per cent of Indian women use sanitary pads.
• Taboo: In some families, menstruation is being perceived as an unclean or embarrassing thing, extending even to the mention of menstruation both in public and in private. Most girls even hide themselves out of fear or embarrassment on their way to a medical store, rather majority of them cannot afford to buy hygienic sanitary pads.
• School dropout:In some families, menstruation is being perceived as an unclean or embarrassing thing, extending even to the mention of menstruation both in public and in private.
  • Most girls even hide themselves out of fear or embarrassment on their way to a medical store, rather majority of them cannot afford to buy hygienic sanitary pads.
• Unclean ways of handling menstruation:A majority of rural women in India employ clothes and rags for feminine hygiene. These materials might predispose women to reproductive tract infections since it may be difficult for them to keep their used napkins clean and free of harmful bacteria.
• Affordability: While commercially available sanitary napkins provide a possible alternative, only 12 percent of Indian women can afford this option
• Lack of Policy Measures:The 2022 ‘Right of Women to Menstrual Leave and Free Access to Menstrual Health Products Bill’ specified three days of paid leave for women and transwomen during their periods, and additional benefits for students is yet to become act. Only two states, Kerala and Bihar, currently have menstrual leave policies for women.

Measures that can be undertaken to improve menstrual health

• Awareness about periods along with efforts to address harmful social and gender norms.
• Menstrual products, both reusable and disposable, must be more available through various access channels.
• Female-friendly community and public toilets to be built more to provide safe, private, clean facilities to manage periods.
• The provision of dustbins and incinerators in female toilets for waste disposal and management.
• Addressing the needs of menstruating people in urban slums and refugee camps.
• Catering the menstrual needs of formal and informal women workforce and workspaces.
• An Inclusive approach catering to the menstrual needs of the differently abled, trans-male/female, and people with other gender identities who menstruate. Gender-nonconforming persons face safety problems and a lack of menstrual supplies. We need to urgently understand their unique needs as well.
• Engaging local communities through innovative peer education programs can help break the silence and stigma surrounding menstruation. These programs can train and empower women and girls to become menstrual hygiene ambassadors.
• Both girls and boys should receive accurate, timely information on the biological and psycho-social aspects of puberty, menstruation, and MHM from all three channels—mass media, influencers, and targeted education.
• There are significant challenges across these three areas with supporting evidence. However, girl-targeted education and community influencers are particularly important enablers for improving menstrual health for women and girls in India

Conclusion

Menstrual health & hygiene is not just a personal hygiene matter but a public health concern demanding immediate action from governments, civil society, and individuals. To overcome these challenges, we need a comprehensive strategy involving education, awareness campaigns, policy reforms, infrastructure enhancements, and better healthcare services. By destigmatizing menstruation, ensuring affordable sanitary products, and providing comprehensive menstrual health education, we can enhance menstrual hygiene in India.

General Studies – 3

9. Explain the unique properties and applications of graphene. Suggest a strategic approach and increased investment to harness the potential of graphene and ensure India’s participation in this cutting-edge technology.

Reference: The Hindu , Insights on India

Introduction

Graphene is a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. It is the thinnest, strongest, and most conductive material in the world, while also being flexible, transparent, and impermeable to gases. It was discovered in 2004, but it has been difficult to produce high-grade large-scale graphene.

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Unique properties of graphene

• Graphene is the world’s thinnest, strongest, and most conductive material of both electricity and heat.
• It conducts electricity better than copper.
• It is 200 times stronger than steel but six times lighter.
• It is almost perfectly transparent as it absorbs only 2% of light.
• It is impermeable to gases, even those as light as hydrogen and helium.
• It has the potential to revolutionise electricity, conductivity, energy generation, batteries, sensors and more.
• Also, when added to other materials, graphene even in small quantities produces composite materials with dramatically transformed qualities.

Applications of graphene

• Graphene is the most heat conductive found to date. As graphene is also strong and light, it means that it is a great material for making heat-spreading solutions, such as heat sinks or heat dissipation films.
• This could be useful in both microelectronics (for example to make LED lighting more efficient and longer lasting) and also in larger applications – for example thermal foils for mobile devices. Huawei’s latest smartphones, for example, have adopted graphene-based thermal films.
• graphene is the world’s thinnest material, it also extremely high surface-area to volume ratio. This makes graphene a very promising material for use in batteries and supercapacitors.
• Graphene may enable batteries and supercapacitors (and even fuel-cells) that can store more energy – and charge faster, too.
• Graphene has a lot of promise for additional applications: anti-corrosion coatings and paints, efficient and precise sensors, faster and efficient electronics, flexible displays, efficient solar panels, faster DNA sequencing, drug delivery, and more.
• Graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide uses fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) characteristics to work effectively as a biosensor
• All elements that form part of GO or rGO functional groups can be effectively stored in their sheets and extracted later for use and are also being explored for their applications in hydrogen storage.
• Graphene has been predicted as a good candidate for the manufacturing of electrostatic audio microphones and speakers due to their lightweight, which provides moderately good frequency response.
• Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease. Moreover, it can stop them from growing any further in many types of cancer by intervening the correct formation of the tumor or causing autophagy which leads to the death of cancer cells.
• Functionalized graphene can be used to carry chemotherapy drugs to tumors for cancer patients.
• Graphene based carriers targeted cancer cells better and reduced and decreased toxicity of the effected healthy cells.
• Drug delivery is not limited to cancer treatment, anti-inflammatory drugs have also been carried by graphene & chitosan combinations and yielded promising results.
• Scientists have discovered that graphene can also be used as a superconductive material.
• Graphene can also be used as a coating material because it prevents the transfer of water and oxygen. Graphene membranes can be used in food or pharmaceutical packaging by keeping food and medicines fresh for longer time.
• Micro-sized sensors can be produced thanks to graphene’s unique structure. It can detect whether a molecule is dangerous or not for the environment. These sensors can be used in food industry, especially in crop protection.
• Graphene is important for defence and aerospace as well. Its exceptional strength makes it promising material for armour and ballistic protection.
• Graphene has the potential to absorb and dissipate electromagnetic waves, making it valuable for developing stealth coatings and materials that reduce radar signatures and electromagnetic interference.
• Graphene is highly sensitive to environmental changes, which makes it an excellent candidate for sensing chemical and biological agents, explosives, radiation, and other hazardous substances.
• Besides, graphene-based materials can also protect us against chemical and biological attacks.
• Better energy storage and electronics properties make graphene attractive in defence and aerospace as well as in civil and commercial applications.
• Graphene is a magnificent bactericidal material as it avoids the generation of microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi, by damaging their cell membranes between its outer layers.

potential strategy to harness its benefits

• Graphene, a form of carbon, is thought to be thematerial of the future.
• However, India’s progress in graphene has been slower compared to leading countries like China and Brazil.
• The Centre needs to become the nodal point to spur large-scale innovation activity around graphene.
• India needs to come up with a national graphene mission. A nodal Ministry needs to be entrusted with this responsibility.
• India needs to be among the leaders in graphene because we may experience the ‘winner takes the most’ situation here.
• The need of the hour is to give a major fillip for scientific research in Graphene with innovation centers in various parts of India.
• By investing in research and development, infrastructure, and collaborations with academia and industry, India can work towards developing cost-effective and scalable methods for graphene production.

10. What are the potential benefits and controversies associated with genetically modified (GM) food as a sustainable solution for food production? Examine the arguments in favor of GM food in addressing global food security and environmental challenges, while also analyzing the concerns raised regarding health risks, ecological impacts, and socio-economic implications.

Reference: Indian Express

Introduction

Genetic engineering aims to transcend the genus barrier by introducing an alien gene in the seeds to get the desired effects. The alien gene could be from a plant, an animal or even a soil bacterium. In most cases, the aim is to introduce a new trait to the plant which does not occur naturally in the species.

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Potential benefits of GM Crops:

• Food Security: Given the increased growth of global population and increased urbanisation, GM crops offer one of the promising solutions to meet the world’s food security needs.
• Improved Stress Tolerance: Genes that give greater tolerance of stress, such as drought, low temperatures or salt in the soil, can also be inserted into crops. This can extend their range and open up new areas for food production.
• Faster Growth: Crops can be altered to make them grow faster, so that they can be cultivated and harvested in areas with shorter growing seasons. This again can extend the range of a food crop into new areas or perhaps allow two harvests in areas where only one is currently practical.
• More Nutritious Crops: Plants and animals can be engineered to produce larger amounts of essential vitamins and minerals, such as iron, helping to solve nutrition problems in some parts of the world. They can also be altered to change the amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and saturated and unsaturated fats that they contain. This could lead to the production of foods designed specifically for a healthy diet for all consumers.
• Production of Medicines and Vaccines by Crops: It may be possible to have plants and animals produce useful medicines and even vaccines, so that prevention and treatment of human diseases in some places can be achieved cheaply and efficiently through the diet.
• Resistance to Herbicides: Crops can be modified to be resistant to specific herbicides, making it much easier to control troublesome weeds. Farmers can simply apply the weed killer to a crop field, killing the unwanted plants and leaving the food crop unaffected. For example, GM oilseed rapeseed – the source of canola oil – is resistant to one chemical that’s widely used to control weeds.
• Better Tasting Foods: Foods can be engineered to taste better, which could encourage people to eat healthier foods that are currently not popular because of their taste, such as broccoli and spinach. It may be possible to insert genes that produce more or different flavours as well.
• Economic benefits: GM crops can increase yield and thus income. Genetically modified foods have a longer shelf life. This improves how long they last and stay fresh during transportation and storage.

Concerns/Challenges associated with GM Crops:

• Human Health Risks:
  • Potential impact on human health including allergens and transfer of antibiotic resistance markers.
  • The impact of growing GM crops poses risks to human health as their resistance to antibiotics can turn medicines ineffective and may result in the formation of new toxins and allergens.
  • Toxins produced by GM crops can not only affect non-target organisms but also pose the danger of unintentionally introducing allergens and other anti-nutrition factors in foods.
• Bio safety concerns:
  • They can reduce species diversity.
  • For example, Insect-resistant plants might harm insects that are not their intended target and thus result in destruction of that particular species.
  • Cross-pollination in GM crops paves the way for herbicide-resistant super weeds that can further threaten the sustenance of other crops and pests because of its uncontrolled growth
  • GM technology could also allow the transfer of genes from one crop to another, creating “super weeds”, which will be immune to common control methods.
  • Viral genes added to crops to confer resistance might be transferred to other viral pathogens, which can lead to new and more virulent virus strains.
• Implications on Farmers and Consumers:
  • Critics claim that patent laws give developersof the GM crops a dangerous degree of control over the food supply. The concern is over domination of world food production by a few companies
  • National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research’santicipation that Bt brinjal’s high yield and increased shelf life will benefit consumers and farmers owing to cut in retail price of brinjals ignores the scenario that companies might charge premium prices for Bt brinjal seeds, in which case farmers may not benefit at all.
• Economic Concerns:
  • Introduction of a GM crop to market is a lengthy and costly process. It has not resulted in high yields as promised.
  • For instance, the highest yields in mustard are from the five countries which do not grow GM mustard — U.K., France, Poland, Germany and Czech Republic — and not from the GM-growing U.S. or Canada.
• Inefficient Regulatory system:
  • Seeing the lapses in the regulatory system and irregularities in the assessment of Bt brinjal (in terms of labelling and unapproved and illegal sowing of GM crops) Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Science & Technology, Environment and Forests recommended:
  • A thorough probe by a team of eminent independent scientists and environmentalists for commercialization of GM crops.
  • Endorsed labelling GM foods to protect a consumer’s right to know.
• Ethical Concerns:
  • Violation of natural organisms’ intrinsic values by mixing among species.
  • There have also been objections to consuming animal genes in plants

Way Forward

• The government must take decisions on GM technologies on the basis of scientific evidence.
• Need to start cultivating an environment of openness and transparency to allay genuine fears
• The government should adopt a participatory approach to bring together all stakeholders to develop regulatory protocols that restore trust in the process.
• There is a significant uncertainty over their safety, so precautionary principle is that country shall wait till a broader scientific consensus is achieved.
• Need for better policy, pricing and to rationalize the input costs
• GEAC needs to be a transparent body. it should put it in the public domain that on what grounds it has approved GM mustard
• There has to be strong liability laws if there are any environmental hazards or if something goes wrong in future
• Agriculture is a state subject; therefore, it is important for the Centre to take into consideration the views of State Governments as well.
• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has rightly pointed out in 2004, “Science cannot declare any technology completely risk free. Genetically engineered crops can reduce some environmental risks associated with conventional agriculture, but will also introduce new challenges that must be addressed”.

Conclusion

Clearly, there can be no credible argument against scientific experiments in agriculture that advance the goal of developing plant varieties that can withstand drought, resist pests and raise yields to feed the growing world population. But this should be done through a transparent regulatory process that is free of ethical conflicts. All this underscores the need for a cautious approach — one that fosters scientific inquiry, allows for scrutiny and is underpinned by regulation. Enacting a comprehensive law that covers all aspects of GM crops should be a priority.

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