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NOTE: Please remember that following ‘answers’ are NOT ‘model answers’. They are NOT synopsis too if we go by definition of the term. What we are providing is content that both meets demand of the question and at the same time gives you extra points in the form of background information.
Answer the following questions in 150 words:
General Studies – 1
Introduction
The Pallava dynasty existed between the 3rd and 9th centuries CE, ruling a portion of what is today Andhra Pradesh (early Pallavas) and Tamil Nadu (later Pallavas).The tradition of direct patronization of the temples began with the Pallavas. Starting with rock-cut temples, Pallava sculptors later graduated to free-standing structural shrines which inspired Chola temples of a later age.
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Perhaps no other empire has garnered appreciation for their contribution to rock-cut architecture as Pallavas. Some of the monuments created by Pallavas during their rule through rock excavation have garnered the worldwide admiration for its beauty and the skills displayed by the artists. Pallava sculpture shows greater details of workmanship, lighter anatomy and more developed artistic finishing.
They were the pioneers of South Indian art and architecture as they had introduced the stone architecture in the Tamil country. Even as a building material, stone was not or rarely used here, possibly because of its strong association with funerary customs. The fascination of carving whole temples into the living rock which spread over India during the first millennium AD had not yet seized the South by the end of the 6th century. Their contributions are still extant because granite was used for building temples and carving sculptures.
Evolution of architecture of Pallavas
- Pallava architecture can be now sub-divided into two phases – the rock cut phase and the structural phase.
- Rock cut phase:
- The rock cut phase lasted from the 610 to 668 AD and consisted of two groups of monuments – the Mahendra group and the Mamalla group.
- The Mahendra groupis the name given to monuments constructed during the reign of Mahendravarman I
- The monuments of this group are invariably pillared halls hewn out of mountain faces.
- These pillared halls or mandapas follow the prototype of Jain temples of the period.
- The best examples of Mahendra group of monuments are the cave temples at Mandagapattu, Pallavaram and Mamandur.
- The second group of rock cut monuments belong to the Mamalla group .
- During this period free-standing monolithic shrines called rathas were constructed alongside pillared halls.
- Some of the best examples of this style are the Pancha Rathas and Arjuna’s Penance at Mahabalipuram.
- Free standing temples:
- The second phase of Pallava architecture is the structural phase when free-standing shrines were constructed with stone and mortar brought in for the purpose.
- The Rajasimha group encompasses the early structural temples of the Pallavas when a lot of experimentation was carried out.
- The best examples of this period are the Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram and the Kanchi Kailasanathar Templeat Kanchipuram both constructed by Narasimhavarman II who was known as Rajasimha.
- The best example of the Nandivarman group of monuments is the Vaikunta Perumal Temple at Kanchipuram.
Conclusion
During this period, Pallava architecture attained full maturity and provided the models upon which the massive Brihadeeswarar Temple of the Cholas at Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapuram and various other architectural works of note were constructed.
The recent announcement of 11 ancient temples in Kancheepuram making it to the UNESCO’s tentative list of world heritage sites opens an avenue for the region to be back on the tourism map. This will ensure better care of the structures as the final honour brings with it international recognition.
Introduction
Child labour typically means the employment of children in any manual work with or without payment. It is a deep rooted social ill in India. As per the 2011 Census, in the age group 5-14 years, 10.1 million of 259.6 million constituted working children. The true extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child labour is yet to be measured but all indications show that it would be significant as children are unable to attend school and parents are unable to find work. However, not all the factors that contribute to child labour were created by the pandemic; most of them were pre-existing and have been exposed or amplified by it.
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- The number of children working as child labourers came down by 100 million in last two decades (1991 to 2011) which demonstrates that the right combination of policy and programmatic interventions can make a difference; but COVID-19 pandemic has undone a lot of gains
- The Covid-19 crisis has brought additional poverty to these already vulnerable populations and may reverse years of progress in the fight against child labour- ILO
- A report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF warns that 9 million additional children are at the risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 globally, as a result of the pandemic.
- In India, the closure of schools and the economic crisis faced by the vulnerable families, triggered by the pandemic, are likely drivers pushing children into poverty and thus, child labour and unsafe migration.
- There has been a significant increase in the proportion of working children from 28.2% to 79.6% out of the 818 children who were surveyed, mainly because of the COVID-19 pandemic and closure of schools, reveals a study conducted by Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL).
- The coronavirus pandemic is forcing India’s children out of school and into farms and factories to work, worsening a child-labour problem that was already one of the direst in the world.
- Orphaned children are particularly vulnerable to trafficking and other exploitation like forced begging, or child labour. In such families, there is also the likelihood of older children dropping out of school to support their younger siblings.
- Children are seen as a stop-gap measure to fill jobs left vacant by migrant labourers who fled cities for their rural homes during the lockdown.
- According to the CACL survey, more than 94% of children have said that the economic crisis at home and family pressure had pushed them into work. Most of their parents had lost their jobs or earned very low wages during the pandemic.
- A total of 591 children were rescued from forced work and bonded labour from different parts of India during the lockdown by Bachpan Bachao Andolan, a civil society group on children’s rights
Challenges before policy makers with respect to child labour.
- The pandemic is hampering enforcement of anti-child labour laws, with fewer workplace inspections and less vigorous pursuit of human traffickers.
- NGOs point to the fact that the real spike in child labour is yet to come. When economic activity begins accelerating, there is a risk of returning migrants taking children along with them to the cities.
- Children’s access to education, basic nutrition and other critical requirements for their development and wellbeing, have suffered a huge setback and many new children have fallen into the trap of forced labour along with further deteriorated conditions for the existing child labourers.
- Child labour is not uniform. It takes many forms depending upon the type of work that children are made to do, the age and sex of the child and whether they work independently or with families. Due to this complex nature of child labour, there is no one strategy that can be used to eliminate it.
- Incoherency between laws that prescribe a minimum age for employment and those for completion of compulsory school education. It also means that the expansion of quality universal basic education has to extend beyond the fulfilment of statutory provisions.
Way Forward
- Abolition of child trafficking, elimination of poverty, free and compulsory education, and basic standards of living can reduce the problem to a great extent.
- Legal measures
- Strict implementation of labour laws is also essential in order to prevent exploitation by parties or multinational companies
- Child Protection Committees should work efficiently to identify vulnerable children and support their families through social protection schemes.
- Strengthening policy and legislative enforcement, and building the capacities of government, workers’ and employers’ organisations as well as other partners at national, State and community levels should be prioritized.
- Education
- Spreading literacy and education is a potent weapon against the practice of child labour, because illiterate persons do not understand the implications of child labour
- The single most effective way to stem the flow of school-aged children into child labour is to improve access to and quality of schooling.
- School authorities need to ensure that every student will have free lunches at home until schools open. Special efforts should be taken to identify children orphaned due to COVID-19, and arrangements of shelter and foster care for them should be made on a priority basis.
- Financial support or relaxation of school fees and other related school expenses should be given to those children who wouldn’t be able to return to school otherwise
- Eradicate Unemployment
- Another way to stop child labour is to eliminate or rein in unemployment. Because of inadequate employment, many families cannot afford to meet all their expenses. If employment opportunities are increased, they will be able to let their children read and write and become worthy citizens
- Coordinated policy efforts should be taken to provide employment and income support to all informal sector workers to stimulate the economy and labour demand.
- Continued progress against child labour requires policies that help mitigate the economic vulnerability of households.
- Accelerating progress towards universal social protection is key, as social protection helps prevent poor households from having to rely on child labour as a coping mechanism.
- Attitude change
- It is important that the attitudes and mind-sets of people are changed to instead employ adults and allow all children to go to school and have the chance to learn, play and socialize as they should.
- A sector-wide culture of child labour-free businesses has to be nurtured.
Conclusion
These measures will no doubt respond to the emergency needs that COVID-19 has generated and also ease the life of children directly or indirectly to some extent. However, it is clear that more needs to be done to prevent children from lapsing into child labour.
Eliminating child labour is firmly placed within Goal 8 of the SDGs. A stronger nexus between the discourse on SDGs and the discourse on eliminating child labour can take the advantage of complementarities and synergies of a wide range of actors engaged in both areas of work. The fight against child labour is not just the responsibility of one, it is the responsibility of all.
Introduction
India has made significant economic progress in recent decades. Such economic growth has not been matched by progress towards women’s equal economic participation. India has a gender wage gap, despite the existence of India’s Equal Remuneration Act 1976 which mandates equal pay for equal work.
An increasing number of startups and new businesses have been founded in India over the last decade, the majority of them by men. While many Indian women have entrepreneurial ambitions, it is often more difficult for them to succeed.
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Current scenario in India:
- While success stories about women are on a rise, a recent report by the World Economic Forum stated that “eight out of every 10 media reports worldwide are about men: only two of them have women in focus”.
- The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2021shows that on one hand the proportion of women among skilled professionals is continuously increasing, along with the progress towards wage equality, albeit at a slower pace.
- However, on the other hand, overall income disparities are still only part-way towards being bridged and there is a persistent lack of women in leadership positions, with women representing just 27% of all manager positions.
- According to the WEF Global Gender Gap Report 2021, India has slipped 28 places to be ranked 140th out of 156 countries, amongst the lowest in South Asia.
- The gender gap in India has widened to 62.5%, largely due to women’s inadequate representation in politics, technical and leadership roles, decrease in women’s labour force participation rate, poor healthcare, lagging female-to-male literacy ratio and income inequality.
- Among India’s senior officials and managers, women account for only 14% of leadership roles — putting India at 136th in WEF’s Global Gender Gap Index — and just 30% of professional and technical workers.
- GoI has reported that only 10% of startup founders are women, and women fill just 22% of positions in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), despite India having the second-largest AI workforce in the world.
Reasons for the Gender Disparity:
- Patriarchal Mindset:
- Preference for male employees over female employees
- Preference for promoting male employees to higher positions
- Glass ceiling: Women in India face artificial barriers like stereotypes, media-related issues, informal boundaries, which prevent them from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions
- In rural areas, women are given lighter work deliberately in agriculture or other sectors thus making them eligible for low payments.
- Lack of Transparency:
- Due to lack of transparency in salaries in private sector, many women are unaware of salaries which they should actually get.
- In Government sector jobs, this disparity is much less because people working on same posts are entitled for same compensation.
- Socio-Cultural Reasons:
- Career breaks taken by women due to socio-cultural issues, marriage or pregnancy and parenthood duties.
- Higher Education levels of women also allow them to pursue leisure and other non-work activities, all of which reduce female labour force participation.
- Insufficient availability of the type of jobs that women say they would like to do, such as regular part-time jobs that provide steady income and allow women to reconcile household duties with work.
- Concerns about safety and Harassment at work site, both explicit and implicit.
- Sexual harassment at the workplace: #Metoo movement sheds light on numerous instances of sexual harassment at the workplace. However, due to the slow judicial system, justice hasn’t been delivered to these women.
- The cultural baggage about women working outside the home is so strong that in most traditional Indian families, quitting work is a necessary precondition to the wedding itself.
- When increases in family incomes are there, due to the cultural factors, women leave the work to take care of the family and avoid the stigma of working outside.
- Pink collarisation of jobs: The women are mostly deemed fit for “pink-collar jobs” only, such as teachers, nurses, receptionists, babysitter, lecturer, etc. which have been stereotyped for women. This denies them opportunities in other fields.
Measures needed
- As the experience with rural self-help groups shows, women are remarkably prompt at repaying loans and the government should step up the amounts and ease loan disbursement for women.
- Policy measures could include addressing or reducing the amount of unpaid work and rebalancing it between men and women, supporting employer or state-funded provision of childcare, and interventions to address digital and financial inclusion.
- The family needs to adjust to the changing role of women and volunteer to share household work.
- Introducing part-time and flexi-time work facilities to avoid their burnout.
- Online restaurant guide and food ordering platform Zomato said it is introducing up to ten days of ‘period leaves’ for all women employees to build a more inclusive work culture in the organisation.
- Results suggest that men’s wages will also increase as a result of greater inclusion of women in the labour force since productivity will increase.
- Menstruation Benefits Bill was tabled as a private member bill in the Parliament in 2018. It is imperative to look at the significance of the provisions, for a gender sensitive labour policy.
- To improve working conditions of the 10% women who are in the formal workforce, we must not forget about the remaining 90% women workers who are in the informal sector.
- Skilling the women:
- Initiatives such as Skill India, Make in India, and new gender-based quotas from corporate boards to the police force can spur a positive change. But we need to invest in skill training and job support.
- The private sector could also take active part in training women entrepreneurs. For example: Unilever’s Shakti program, which has trained more than 70,000 rural women in India as micro-entrepreneurs to sell personal-care products as a way of making its brands available in rural India
- Equal pay: The principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value that is protected by Indian law must be put to actual practice. Improved wage-transparency and gender neutral job evaluation is required to achieve this end.
- Assuring safe access to work: It is important to improve existing transport and communication networks and provide safe accommodation for women who travel to or has migrated for work.
- A useful and easily implementable idea would be to give income tax benefits to women. It would be a bold and effective step to increasing India’s female workforce participation.
- For political empowerment of women, their representation in Parliament and in decision making roles in public sphere is one of the key indicators of empowerment.
- Gig Economy provides women flexible work options to pursue their career while not missing important milestones in their family lives.
Conclusion
Unlocking the potential of women definitely requires an increase and shift in the composition of overall employment opportunities as well as questioning of societal strictures. As the country commends itself on world-leading economic growth and aspires towards a $20 trillion economy, it becomes necessary to take women along to make this goal a reality. Societal change will be the largest needle mover, but a constant push through the government, organizations and individuals is critical to bend societal norms for the better.
General Studies – 2
Introduction
India, currently has the largest number of undernourished people in the world i.e. around 195 million. Nearly 47 million or 4 out of 10 children in India do not meet their full human potential because of chronic undernutrition or stunting. India ranks 94/ 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2020. Malnutrition is caused by a lack or imbalance of certain types of nutrients necessary for a healthy life.
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Consequences of Poor nutrition
- The National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 shows negligible gains in nutritional outcomes among under-five children.
- There has been tardy progress in reducing undernutrition, wasting and stunting.
- It is a national shame that even now, 5% of under-five children are stunted and 19.3% are wasted.
- Childhood anaemia has worsened from NFHS-4.
- Anaemia among adolescent girls and women aged 15-49 has also worsened.
- Malnutrition results in a reduced ability to work and increased susceptibility to disease, and depending on the nutrients lacking: anaemia, blindness, mental retardation, or death.
- India loses 4% of its GDP annually due to malnourishment.
Measures needed
- Continued monitoring
- After monitoring the successful initiation of breastfeeding in the hospital, anganwadi workers, ASHA workers and Auxiliary Nurse Midwives must continue to monitor exclusive breastfeeding till the infant is six months old.
- they must record the timely initiation of complementary feeding with soft gruel
- Ration supply without break
- We must also ensure that there is take-home ration for under-three children through the regular supply of supplementary nutrition from the Integrated Child Development Services.
- Monitoring PDS
- Real-time monitoring of the Public Distribution System (PDS) will go a long way in ensuring food at the family level.
- Community involvement
- Both Poshan Abhiyan and the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana need to be monitored with the help of the community to ensure sustainable nutrition security.
- Other measures
- Whether anganwadis are intermittently closed without any valid reason;
- whether the supervisors are erratic in field monitoring;
- how we can capture the regularity and quantity of dry rations supplied to anganwadi centres and schools for mid-day meals;
- whether there is live web-based centrally monitorable data on the movement of dry rations to anganwadis and schools;
- whether parents and teachers can monitor the serving of hot, cooked meals;
- whether self-help groups of women are involved in preparing the menu and procuring locally available vegetables, grains and millets to ensure dietary diversification
- whether eggs are being denied or stopped for sociopolitical reasons.
- Food fortification of staples (including wheat, flour, rice and edible oils)
- It represents a cost-effective and scalable solution to enhance nutrient intake.
- Standards for food fortification should be established, and guidelines changed to promote the use of fortified inputs in ICDS-provided hot cooked meals.
- Increasing dietary diversity
- It is the preferred way of improving the nutrition of a population because it has the potential to improve the intake of many food constituents like antioxidants and probiotics not just micronutrients simultaneously.
- There are several low-cost, food-based measures that can be promoted at the community level to improve micro nutrient status.
- Culturally appropriate dietary modifications
- should be developed to help people identify concrete actions that can improve both dietary supply and the absorption of micronutrients.
- This information needs to be disseminated to the public through traditional information channels.
- public-private partnerships
- Private sector engagement can leverage technological solutions for scaling up food fortification initiatives, and complement the government’s outreach efforts through mass awareness and education campaigns in communities.
Conclusion
Prioritizing early childhood nutrition is key to ensuring India’s development rests on strong and steady shoulders. India’s ability to harness long-term demographic dividends rests on it prioritizing nutrition in its health agenda, and reforming the institutional framework through which interventions are delivered.
Introduction
A Uniform Civil Code is one that would provide for one law for the entire country, applicable to all religious communities in their personal matters such as marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption etc. It proposes to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in the country with a common set of laws governing every citizen.
Article 44 of the Constitution lays down that the state shall endeavor to secure a Uniform Civil Code for the citizens throughout the territory of India.
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Background
- While delivering a judgment legitimising the Portuguese Civil Code of 1867, the Supreme Court reportedly described Goa as a “shining example” with a Uniform Civil Code
- The previous Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde recently lauded Goa’s Uniform Civil Code, and encouraged “intellectuals” indulging in “academic talk” to visit the state to learn more about it.
- The Delhi High Court, in a very revolutionary decision, backed the need for a Uniform Civil Code observing that there is a need for a Code – ‘common to all’ in the country and asked the central government to take the necessary steps in this matter.
Time is ripe for UCC in India
- Promotion of secularism: One set of laws to govern the personal matters of all citizens irrespective of religion is the cornerstone of true secularism. A secular republic needs a common law for all citizens rather than differentiated rules based on religious practices. It would help end gender discrimination on religious grounds and strengthens the secular fabric of the nation.
- Protection of Vulnerable & Women’s Rights: It will protect the vulnerable sections of society. Women have been denied via personal laws in the name of socio cultural-religious traditions. Therefore UCC could bring all communities together to ensure Women the Right to a dignified life and control over their life as well as body.
- Gender justice:The rights of women are usually limited under religious law, be it Hindu or Muslim. Many practices governed by religious tradition are at odds with the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Indian Constitution. Courts have also often said in their judgements that the government should move towards a uniform civil code including the judgement in the Shah Bano case.
- Prevents religion-based discrimination: Personal laws differentiate between people on grounds of religion. A unified law having the same provisions regarding marital affairs would provide justice to those who feel discriminated against.
- Ending unjust customs and traditions: A rational common and unified personal law will help eradicate many evil, unjust and irrational customs and traditions prevalent across the communities. For example, Law against Manual scavenging. It might have been a custom in the past but in a mature democracy like India, this custom cannot be justified.
- Indian laws do follow a uniform code in most civil matters –Indian Contract Act, Civil Procedure Code, Sale of Goods Act, Transfer of Property Act, Partnership Act, Evidence Act etc. States, however, have made hundreds of amendments and therefore in certain matters, there is diversity even under these secular civil laws.
- Justice Prathiba M Singh of Delhi HC stated that the modern Indian society was gradually becoming homogenous, the traditional barriers of religion, community and caste are slowly dissipating and thus UCC ought not to remain a mere hope.
- Eases Administration: UCC would make it easy to administer the huge population base of India.
Challenges facing the passage of UCC:
- Violation of fundamental rights:Religious bodies oppose uniform civil code on the ground that it would be interference into religious affairs which would violate fundamental rights guaranteed under article 25 of the constitution.
- Reduces diversity:It would reduce the diversity of the nation by painting everyone in one colour. Tribals have their unique customs and traditions as per their culture. Replacing their customs and traditions with a unified law may lead to the identity crisis of the tribals. This may further lead to social tension.
- Communal politics:It would be a tyranny to the minority and when implemented could bring a lot of unrest in the country.
- Threat to Multiculturalism: Indian society has a unique identity in the form of its being multiculturalism, and unified law might do away with these unique characteristics of this nation.
- Affects Majority as well: For example, even Hindus themselves have separate Hindu laws for themselves. Thus, it is not merely a question for minorities but it also affects the majority.
- Lacking Political Will: Bigger issues have been resolved by the BJP Government like Ayodhya Dispute, repeal of Article 370, so with adequate will from the political community, UCC could also be implemented
- Sensitive and tough task – Such a code, in its true spirit, must be brought about by borrowing freely from different personal laws, making gradual changes in each, issuing judicial pronouncements assuring gender equality, and adopting expansive interpretations on marriage, maintenance, adoption, and succession by acknowledging the benefits that one community secures from the others. This task will be very demanding time and human resource wise. The government should be sensitive and unbiased at each step while dealing with the majority and minority communities. Otherwise, it might turn out to be more disastrous in a form of communal violence.
- Time is not yet suitable for this reform – Considering a major opposition from Muslim community in India over this issue overlapping with controversies over beef, saffronization of school and college curriculum, love jihad, and the silence emanating from the top leadership on these controversies, there needs to be given sufficient time for instilling confidence in the community. Otherwise, these efforts towards common will be counterproductive leaving minority class particularly Muslims more insecure and vulnerable to get attracted towards fundamentalist and extremist ideologies.
Way forward
- Major sensitization efforts are needed to reform current personal law reforms which should first be initiated by the communities themselves.
- Current institutions need to be modernized, democratized and strengthened for this change. Sincere efforts towards women empowerment have to be taken for all women of all religions.
- UCC can only emerge through an evolutionary process, which preserves India’s rich legal heritage, of which all the personal laws are equal constituents.
- The social transformation from diverse civil code to uniformity shall be gradual and cannot happen in a day. Therefore, the government must adopt a piecemeal approach and no knee-jerk decisions.
- There is need for deliberations and discussions among members of various communities to reach a common ground.
Conclusion
The guiding principles of the Constitution itself visualize diversity and have tried to promote uniformity among peoples of different denominations. A uniform law, although highly desirable but may be counterproductive to the unity and integrity of the nation. Hence, only those elements of customs and traditions should be brought into a unified law that causes injustice to individuals. In a democracy and rule of law, a gradual progressive change and order must be brought about.
Introduction
On 16 December 1971, Pakistani forces surrendered to Indian forces and Bangladesh was liberated. This week, Indian and Bangladeshi diplomats have jointly celebrated the 50th anniversary, and Indian leaders have praised Bangladesh’s development record.
India and Bangladesh share bonds of history, language, culture, and multitude of other commonalities. The excellent bilateral ties reflect an all-encompassing partnership based on sovereignty, equality, trust, and understanding that goes far beyond a strategic partnership.
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- Liberation war: Bangladeshis are grateful for Indian support and sacrifices in 1971.
- Cultural ties: Triveni of events of epochal significance — the golden jubilee of the Liberation War of Bangladesh, the birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 50th anniversary of our diplomatic ties. India and Bangladesh are celebrating it jointly.
- Development partner: Bangladesh is the biggest development partner of India today. India has extended 3 Lines of Credits (LOC) to Bangladesh in the last 8 years amounting to US$ 8 billion for development of infrastructure in various sectors including roads, railways, shipping and ports.
- Amicable relations: The year 2020, despite onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, witnessed intense high level engagements at political and official levels beginning with the exchange of New Year greetings between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on 01 January 2020.
- Connectivity: Both the governments are undertaking various measures to restore the pre-1965 rail links and other connectivity links that existed between India and Bangladesh.
- The two Prime Ministers jointly inaugurated the newly restored railway link between Chilahati (Bangladesh) and Haldibari (India) on 17 December 2020.
- To enhance people to people contacts, the frequency of two passenger trains, i.e., Maitree Express and Bandhan Express was increased from 4 days a week to 5 days a week and from one day a week to two days a week respectively from February 2020.
- Trade: Bangladesh is India’s biggest trade partner in South Asia and India is the second biggest trade partner of Bangladesh.
- Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown steadily over the last decade and the exports of Bangladesh have tripled over the last decade to cross $1 bn in 2018-19.
Significance of relations today
- Security of North East: A friendly Bangladesh can ensure that its soil is not used for anti-India activities. Bangladesh’s action resulted in the arrest of many top leaders of the NE insurgent groups like United Liberation Front of Assam & National Democratic Front of Bodoland.
- Connectivity of North East: The north eastern states are land-locked & have shorter route to sea through Bangladesh. Transit agreement with Bangladesh will spur socio-economic development and integration of North-East India.
- Bridge to Southeast Asia: Bangladesh is a natural pillar of Act East policy. It can act as a ‘bridge’ to economic and political linkages with South East Asia and beyond. Bangladesh is important component of BIMSTEC and BBIN initiatives.
- Strengthening South Asia as a regional power: Bangladesh is important for strengthening of SAARC, for promoting cooperation among its member nations to economic growth and securing strategic interests.
- Securing sea lines of communication: Bangladesh is strategically placed nearby important sea lanes. It can play significant role in containing piracy in the Indian Ocean.
- Fighting terrorism and deradicalization: Stable, open and tolerant Bangladesh helps India in stopping extremists from flourishing there and also in cooperation in deradicalization efforts, sharing intelligence, and other counter-terrorism efforts.
- Balancing China: A neutral Bangladesh would ensure containment of an assertive China in this region, and help in countering it’s string of pearls policy.
Challenges in bilateral relations
- River disputes: India shares 54 trans-boundary rivers with Bangladesh. Some of the major disputes include: Teesta River water sharing issue, Tipaimukh Hydro-Electric Power Project on the Barak River, Ganga river dispute etc.
- Illegal immigrants: The National Register of Citizens (NRC) has left out 1.9 million Assamese from the list with a group labelled as “illegal immigrants from Bangladesh” living in Assam post-1971.
- Bangladesh remains firm in its stance that no migrants travelled to Assam illegally during the 1971 war of independence and that the controversial NRC risks hurting relations.
- Border Management: The Indo-Bangladesh border is of porous nature which provides pathway for smuggling, trafficking in arms, drugs and people and cattle.
- Delay in project execution: As of 2017, India had extended three lines of credit worth approximately $7.4 billion. However, less than 10% of the cumulative commitments have been disbursed so far.
- China factor: China sees Bangladesh as strategic focal point to make inroads into South Asia as an alternative to India.
- Increasing radicalisation: Presence of groups like Harkat-alJihad-al-Islami (HUJI), Jamaat-e-Islami, and HUJI-B fuel Anti-India sentiments in Bangladesh. Their propaganda could spill across border.
Conclusion
Deepening relationship with Bangladesh has become a necessity in the face of shifting geo-economics. Bangladesh, with its growing economic success, and with its 8 percent growth rate provides a vital partnership in the region. There is scope for India-Bangladesh ties to move to the next level, based on cooperation, coordination and consolidation as Prime Minister has termed the present period of relationship between the two countries as ‘Sonali Adhyay’
General Studies – 3
Introduction
The integrated digital footprint created by Digital India is likely to bring formidable and increasing demand on resources to defend against the multiplying threat levels and entry points. While Digital India will create new economic and social opportunities, it will also be creating an increasingly large attack surface for criminals to exploit as an initial foothold or vector into otherwise well-protected IT environments. The government initiative that seeks to transform the country into a connected economy can be successful only when security of the connected devices is assured.
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Background
- Recently, the Prime Minister’s twitter account was hacked and false tweet was published.
- India is the 5th most vulnerable nation to cybersecurity breach as per Symantec report.
- India stands 47/175 in ITU’s Global cybersecurity index.
- Cyber-attacks nearly cost $4 billion USD per year for India. India accounted for 5.09% of all cyberattacks in 2017.
- Increasing e-governance and delivery of services online make cybersecurity even more important. E.g.: Aadhar based banking, Digilocker, DBT etc.
Issues of cyber security
- Digital illiteracy in India makes citizens susceptible to cyber frauds.
- Using legacy software with security vulnerabilites. E.g.: ATM’s with windows XP became vulnerable to network spoofing.
- Anonymity: Even advanced precision threats carried out by hackers is difficult to attribute to specific actors, state or non- state.
- Slow adoption of new technologies. For example Banking sector most vulnerable to cloning of magnetic strip debit/credit cards.
- Rampant use of unlicensed and pirated software that are easy targets for malware. E.g.: Saposhi attack leading to Denial of Service.
- Import dependence: Majority of electronic devices from cellphones to equipments used in power sector, defense and other critical infrastructure puts India into a vulnerable situation.
- Lack of uniform security protocol and standards used across various electronic devices.
Measures being taken
- CERT-IN is the national nodal agency to respond in crisis situation. For example, In October 2017, CERT had issued alert about Reaper which is highly evolved malware capable of hacking devices like Wi-Fi routers and security camera.
- CERT-fin has also been launched exclusively for financial sector.
- Cert-Fin will work closely with all financial-sector regulators and stakeholders on issues of cyber security.
- It will collect, analyze and disseminate information on cyber incidents across financial sectors. It will forecast and send alerts on cyber security incidents. Cert-Fin will contribute to strengthening of the cyber security of the country.
- CERT-in is also operating Cyber Swachhata Kendra, a Botnet Cleaning and Malware Analysis Centre
- National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC) to battle cyber security threats in strategic areas such as air control, nuclear and space.
- Cyber Surakshit Bharat Initiative to strengthen Cybersecurity ecosystem in India. It is first public private partnership of its kind and will leverage the expertise of the IT industry in cybersecurity.
- National cyber coordination centre (NCCC) is set up to scan internet traffic coming into the country and provide real time situational awareness and alert various security agencies.
- Cyber Forensic Lab set up in Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata in collaboration with NASSCOM.
Conclusion
Despite all the cyber security risks, the movement towards Digital India is inevitable. The government and enterprises realize this and efforts are on for developing better systems for maintaining security while also taking advantage of the plethora of technological applications that have exploded during the last few years.
Introduction
Recently, the government of India has launched the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), a roadmap for asset monetisation of various brownfield infrastructure assets across sectors.
NMP will help in evolving a common framework for monetisation of core assets. The NMP estimates aggregate monetisation potential of Rs 6 lakh crores through core assets of the Central Government, over a four-year period, from FY 2022 to FY 2025.
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National Monetisation Pipeline: Aims and objectives
- Objectives: To unlock the value of investments in brownfield public sector assets by tapping institutional and long-term capital, which can thereafter be leveraged for public investments.
- To enable ‘Infrastructure Creation through Monetisation’ wherein the public and private sector collaborate, each excelling in their core areas of competence, so as to deliver socio-economic growth.
- The four-year National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) will unlock value in brownfield projects by engaging the private sector, transferring to them the rights but not the ownership in projects.
- Components: Roads, railways and power sector assets will comprise over 66 per cent of the total estimated value of the assets to be monetised, with the balance coming from sectors including telecom, mining, aviation, ports, natural gas and petroleum product pipelines, warehouses and stadiums.
- The NMP will run co-terminus with the Rs 100 lakh crore National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP) announced in December 2019.
- The estimated amount to be raised through monetisation is around 14% of the proposed outlay for the Centre of Rs 43 lakh crore under NIP.
Challenges
- Financial Challenges: Lack of identifiable revenue streams in various infrastructure assets.
- For instance, a significant proportion of National Infrastructure Pipeline is to be financed by the Private Sector but the mechanisms for revenue transfer have not be specified.
- Difficulty in attracting investors: Less-than-encouraging bids in the recently launched PPP initiative in trains indicate that attracting private investors’ interest is not that easy.
- Leasing of public utilities to private investors could lead to higher prices for consumers.
- Regulatory Challenges: Lack of independent sectoral regulators who could provide dedicated domain expertise and simultaneously aid development of the sector.
- Structural problems such as legal uncertainty and the absence of a deep bond market that hold back private investment in infrastructure.
- This is further compounded by Inefficient Dispute resolution mechanism.
- The allocation of assets owned by governments to private investors is often subject to political influence, which can lead to corruption.
- Asset-specific Challenges: Low Level of capacity utilisation in gas and petroleum pipeline networks.
- Regulated tariffs in power sector assets.
- Low interest among investors in national highways below four lanes.
Way forward and conclusion
NMP is a great step forward but successful execution of the plan remains key to its success.
- For this, Contracts must be designed to allow for some flexibility for addressing unforeseen developments (such as climate-related disasters) and to prevent needless and longwinded litigation.
- Clear quality benchmarks must be set for the assets that are handed over by the government and for KPIs expected of the private party for operating and maintaining the asset.
- There is a need to set up a robust mechanism for dispute resolution relating to PPP contracts as recommended by the Kelkar Committee on PPPs.
Introduction
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations. Desertification does not refer to the expansion of existing deserts. It occurs because dryland ecosystems, which cover over one-third of the world‘s land area, are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and inappropriate land use. Poverty, political instability, deforestation, overgrazing and bad irrigation practices can all undermine the productivity of the land.
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha committee, constituted to study water table depletion, has recently said that the state will turn into a desert in the next 25 years if the present trend of drawing water from underground aquifers continues.
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Main reasons that cause desertification in India are:
- Water erosion (10.98 per cent).
- Wind erosion (5.55 per cent).
- Human-made/settlements (0.69 per cent).
- Vegetation degradation (8.91 per cent).
- Salinity (1.12 per cent).
- Others (2.07 per cent).
Need for sustainable land management for combating desertification and land degradation
- Drought:
- By 2025, 1.8 billion people will experience absolute water scarcity, and 2/3 of the world will be living under water-stressed conditions.
- A complex and slowly encroaching natural hazard with significant and pervasive socio-economic and environmental impacts to cause more deaths and displace more people than any other natural disaster.
- India has witnessed increase in the level of desertification in 26 of 29 states between 2003-05 and 2011-13, according to the State of India’s Environment (SoE) 2019 in Figures.
- More water is being drawn than it is being replenished. g.: The rate of water extraction in Punjab is 1.66 times against the rate of replenishment.
- Because of the adoption of a faulty cropping pattern. Paddy crop hampers water recharging because of the puddling method used to prepare fields for transplanting.
- Human Security:
- By 2045 some 135 million people may be displaced as a result of desertification.
- Achieving land degradation neutrality -by rehabilitating already degraded land, scaling up sustainable land management and accelerating restoration initiatives- is a pathway to greater resilience and security for all.
- Climate:
- Restoring the soils of degraded ecosystems has the potential to store up to 3 billion tons of carbon annually.
- The land use sector represents almost 25% of total global emissions. Its rehabilitation and sustainable management are critical to combating climate change.
Measures needed
- UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework: It is the most comprehensive global commitment to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in order to restore the productivity of vast expanses of degraded land, improve the livelihoods of more than 1.3 billion people, and reduce the impacts of drought on vulnerable populations to build.
- Setting up of an Intergovernmental Panel on Land and Soil will be very helpful in speeding up efforts to check desertification.
- Farmers must be incentivised to choose cropping patterns that require less water, and go for drip irrigation or other water management mechanisms to save our only available deeper aquifers.
- Developing countries need to integrate their poverty eradication programmes with strategies to fight desertification.
- Lessons from the world:
- In Africa, several countries have come together to form a 12,000 sq.km “great green wall” extending from Senegal to Djibouti with the participation of local communities.
- People’s participation is crucial in reclaiming lands. China’s “great green wall” project is on a massive scale and is now starting to show results.
- The techniques include agro-forestry and farmer-managed natural regeneration. Small community initiatives like
- Closure of degraded lands for grazing
- Curtailing farming
- Growing fast-growing plants
- Raising tall trees that serve as a barrier against winds and sandstorms are very effective.
- National governments could consider building large green belts, prioritise forestry programmes and launch projects of fixing and stabilising sands.
Conclusion
Desertification is being accentuated by climate change. Thus, a comprehensive sustainable developmental approach is needed by the countries.
Introduction
Climate Change is a periodic modification of Earth’s climate brought about due to the changes in the atmosphere as well as the interactions between the atmosphere and various other geological, chemical, biological and geographical factors within the Earth’s system.
Climate change is accelerating due to global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and there is resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns.
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- Rising temperature and heat waves: Green House gases release by power plants, automobiles, deforestation and other sources are heating up the planet.
- In fact, the five hottest years on record have all occurred since 1997 and the 10 hottest since 1990, including the warmest years on record – 2005 and 2010.
- Increased temperatures are to blame for an increase in heat-related deaths and illness, rising seas, increased storm intensity, and many of the other dangerous consequences of climate change.
- Wildlife/Ecosystem at Risk: Increased temperatures are changing weather and vegetation patterns across the globe, forcing animal species to migrate to new, cooler areas in order to survive.
- Coral bleaching is happening in large scale due to increasing ocean temperatures.
- Ocean Acidification /Rising Seas level: As the Earth heats up, sea levels rise up because warmer water takes up more area than colder water, a process known as thermal expansion.
- Melting glaciers compound the problem by dumping even more fresh water into the oceans.
- Rising seas threaten the populated low-lying areas, islands and dense coastal populations, erode shorelines, damage property and destroy ecosystems such as mangroves and wetlands that protect coasts against storms.
- Severe droughts: As temperatures rise globally, droughts will become more frequent and more severe, with potentially devastating consequences for agriculture, water supply and human health.
- This phenomenon has already been observed in some parts of Asia and Africa, where droughts have become longer and more intense.
- Agriculture and food security: Solar radiation, temperature, and precipitation are the essential drivers of crop growth; therefore agriculture has always been highly dependent on climate patterns and variations.
Impact of Climate Change on India
- Coastal areas: 7500 km long coastline is already vulnerable to various disasters like cyclone, coastal flooding, storm surges, heavy rainfall (as seen in Mumbai) etc.
- The rise in the sea temperature and level will only increase the frequency of such hazards endangering the life and livelihood of the coastal population.
- Also, India being close to the equator will experience much higher increase in sea level than higher latitudes
- Monsoon: Phenomenon such as El Nino will increase the variability of the monsoon worsening the agricultural crisis with more than 50% area still being rain-fed and threatening the food security.
- Climate change has about 4-9 per cent impact on agriculture each year.
- As agriculture contributes 15 per cent to India’s GDP, climate change presumably causes about 1.5 per cent loss in GDP(1).
- Disasters: More weather aberrations as recently seen in Mumbai and Chennai and increase incidence of the disasters like flood and drought will threaten both rural and urban economy
- Biodiversity: Loss of biodiversity put the livelihood of the forest dependent and hill communities at risk and disturb the biogeochemical cycles that help maintain the flow of nutrient, water and pure air.
- Increase in human-wildlife conflict as observed in State like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand is another threat.
- Health: Increased disease outbreaks especially of the tropical diseases like Malaria and Dengue, heat waves aggravating the urban heat island effect and water scarcity compelling people to consume polluted water will increase the burden of mortality and morbidity.
- Migration: Rising inequalities as poor will be most affected due to climate change will increase the burden of migration and cripple the urban economies.
- Illegal migration from the neighbour countries will also cause security threats.
Measure taken to combat climate change in India
- India’s Nationally Determined Contributions
- Reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33 to 35 per cent by 2030 from 2005 level
- 40% of cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030 with financial and technical help from other countries and GCF
- Additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030
- Enhancing investments in development programs in sectors vulnerable to climate change, particularly agriculture, water resources etc.
- Joint collaborative R&D for such future technologies
- National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): The Action plan covers eight major missions on Solar, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change.
- International Solar Alliance (ISA): ISA was jointly launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the then President of France, Francois Hollande in Paris on the side-lines of CoP 21 in 2015. The vision and mission of the alliance is to provide a dedicated platform for cooperation among solar resource rich countries that lie completely or partial between the Tropics of Capricorn & Cancer.
- State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC): State governments have drafted climate strategies aligned with the eight National Missions under the NAPCC. The strategies focus on issues ranging from climate mitigation, energy efficiency, and resource conservation to climate adaptation.
- FAME Scheme for E-mobility: Union Government in April 2015 launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) – India Scheme with an aim to boost sales of eco-friendly vehicles in the country. It is a part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility.
- Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for Smart Cities : To make cities sustainable and increasing the green spaces in cities.
- Environment Impact Assessment: Management tool to regulate the impact of industries on the environment for ensuring optimal use of natural resources for sustainable developmen
- Applicable for major projects like infrastructure, thermal and nuclear power, industries, mining etc.
- Industrial categorization (Red, Orange, Green and White) according to their impact to maintain balance between regulation and ease of doing business.
- White industries do not require EIA approval
- Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: The scheme provides LPG connections to five crore below-poverty-line beneficiaries. The connections are given in the name of women beneficiaries to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and conventional fuel like cow dung for cooking food, thus reducing air pollution.
- UJALA scheme: The scheme was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2015 with a target of replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs. The usage of LED bulbs will not only result in reducing electricity bills but also help in environment protection.
- Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), 2017: Developed by Power Ministry and BEE, ECBC seeks to promote low carbon growth by integrating the renewable energy sources in the design of the buildings.
- For a building to be ECBC compliant it has to show at least 25% savings in the energy consumption.
- It is estimated that adoption of ECBC throughout the country would reduce at least 50% of the energy use by 2030.
Conclusion
All nations collectively should work on climate change as the threat is becoming bigger with each year passing. Combatting carbon emissions and strictly ensuring implementation of Paris Agreement is the need of the hour. This combined with focus on renewable energy and green technology can combat climate change. Least developed nations and developing nations must be financed by developed countries with technology transfer to adapt to climate change.
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Other Measures
- Addressing the distortion in the cropping towards water intensive crops like rice and promoting agro-climatic farming.
- Increased community engagement in the adaptation measures such as in the Jal Swavlamban Yojana of Rajasthan wherein people are provided incentives to create water storage structures.
- Expansion in the community forestry and Joint forest management to contain the loss to green cover due to industrial activity.
- Decentralized water management through revival of traditional mechanisms like baolis and adoption of eco-friendly methods like ‘four water concept’ to address the water shortage. Preventing the exploitation of ground water resources.
- Investing in R&D for developing crop varieties more suited to changed climatic conditions (e.g. drought resistant) and diversification of rural economy to reduce pressure on land for agriculture.
- Investments in the agricultural value chain to reduce post-harvest losses and increase the income of farmers.
- Development of better forecasting model and climate change atlas that highlights the challenges for difference regions for evidence—based policymaking.
- Increased international collaboration for finances and technology with an outcome based approach.
- Strict enforcement of building code and expansion of rooftop solar power program to reduce dependence on the coal energy.
- Better urban planning focusing on solid waste management and public transport.
Answer the following questions in 250 words:
General Studies – 1
Introduction
UNESCO’s List of Intangible Cultural Heritage is a coveted list is made up of those intangible heritage elements that help demonstrate diversity of cultural heritage and raise awareness about its importance. The list was established in 2008 when the Convention for Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage came into effect.
According to unesco.org, “cultural heritage does not end at monuments and collections of objects. It also includes traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts”.
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Background:
Durga Puja in Kolkata, one of largest cultural carnivals and street art festival of the country, recently received an important international recognition by making it to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Durga Puja is a classic fusion of religion and culture, regarded with a lot of pride and celebrated predominantly by the Bengali community. During this time, intricately-designed clay models of the Goddess are worshipped in ‘pandals’ and pavilions where people get together. Folk music, culinary, craft, and performing arts traditions are a part of the celebration.
UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage from India
| S.No. | ICH Element | Year of Inscription |
| Tradition of Vedic chanting | 2008 | |
| Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana | 2008 | |
| Kutiyattam, Sanskrit theatre | 2008 | |
| Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas, India | 2009 | |
| Mudiyettu, ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala | 2010 | |
| Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan | 2010 | |
| Chhau dance | 2010 | |
| Buddhist chanting of Ladakh: recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir, India | 2012 | |
| Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur | 2013 | |
| Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab, India | 2014 | |
| Yoga | 2016 | |
| Nawrouz, Novruz, Nowrouz, Nowrouz, Nawrouz, Nauryz, Nooruz, Nowruz, Navruz, Nevruz, Nowruz, Navruz | 2016 | |
| Kumbh Mela | 2017 | |
| Durga Puja in Kolkata | 2021 |
Importance of protection of intangible heritage of India
- It helps to recognize the diversity of Indian culture embedded in its intangible heritage.
- It reflects India’s multicultural identity as a people and nation, and resonates strongly with Indians across all races and social strata.
- It intends to enhance the “visibility of communities’ cultural practices and know-how”, aiming to “safeguard the intangible cultural heritage of communities nationally & globally”.
- Its importance is not in the cultural manifestation itself, but in the wealth of knowledge, know-how and skills that are transmitted from one generation to the next.
- There is a need to raise awareness about the various intangible cultural heritage elements from different states of India at national and international level and ensure their protection.
Conclusion
The Union ministry of Culture has also launched the draft National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of India. The National ICH List is an attempt to recognize the diversity of Indian culture embedded in its intangible heritage. This initiative is also a part of the Vision 2024 of the Ministry of Culture.
Introduction
The Scheduled Tribes are notified in 30 States/UTs and the number of individual ethnic groups, etc. notified as Scheduled Tribes is 705. The tribal population of the country, as per 2011 census, is 10.43 cr. constituting 8.6% of the total population. 89.97% of them live in rural areas and 10.03% in urban areas.
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Government schemes towards Tribal Welfare
- Pradhan Manti Van Dhan Yojana: It is a market-linked tribal entrepreneurship development program for creating clusters of tribals and strengthening them.
- Van Bandhu Kalyan Yojana: Aims at creating enabling environment for need based and outcome oriented holistic development of the tribal people.
- Ekalavya Model Schools: To provide good quality middle and high-level education to Scheduled Tribe students in remote areas, not only to enable them to avail of reservation in high and professional and ensure access to best opportunities in education at par with non ST population.
- Minor Forest Produce: To safeguard fair monetary returns to MFP gatherers for their labours in the collection, primary processing, storage, packaging, transportation etc.
- Vocational Training Centres in Tribal Areas: The main aim of this scheme is to upgrade the skills of the tribal youth in various traditional/ modern vocations depending upon their educational qualification, present economic trends and the market potential, which would enable them to gain suitable employment or enable them to become self-employed.
Shortcomings
- The benefits, have been unsuccessful in reaching the lower strata of the societyand got concentrated in the hands of the upper crust of the tribal community.
- The most important drawback of the tribal in development blocks is that the entireprogram has been carried out depriving the participation of tribal people. The tribals had no predominant say in the programs articulated for their development, nor were their co-operation gained in the implementation of these programs.
- The unchanging bureaucracy has been unsuccessful to fulfil the role of development agency.
- Local politicians and local elite power were also not in the interest of the tribal population.They perpetuated the situation in their self-interest.
- Nutrition and health of the tribal community: It was identified a while ago that sickle cell anaemia is one of the major diseases afflicting the tribal community in the country and a lot of effort is being made to improve the health status of the community.
- Research by the Indian council of Medical research has further shown that the scheduled tribal community is generally at the lower level of nutrition.
- Tribal Housing: Most of the tribals live in single room houses and faced challenges in accessing potable drinking water, Sanitation and electricity access.
Various initiatives have been taken by the Government of India over the years for the development of tribal people in the country, comprising the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes Commission, and TRIFED.
Way forward
- Infrastructure facilities like road connectivity will improve the quality of life in tribal areas, in terms of quick access to health services, better education, and social service. Special focus is also given for repair and maintenance of existing roads in tribal areas.
- The High-Level Committee (Virginius Xaxa committee) has made numerous recommendations such as exclusive mining rights for tribals, greater freedom for tribals to make decisions on land acquisition and other common property resources and, strict implementation of the new land law, Forest Rights Act and strengthening of the PESA.
- It has also proposed a complete overhaul of the legal constitutional regime by recommending that laws and policies enacted by the Parliament and state legislatures shouldn’t be applied automatically in the Fifth Schedule areas.
- State government should be made to obtain permissions from owners and occupiers of land for major minerals, and consult with Gram Sabhain 5th and 6th schedule areas for minor minerals.
- It should be mandated that all clearances (forest and environment) under forest conservation act and wildlife protection act should be taken before a lease was given.
- Tribal cooperatives should be made eligible for grant of license of minor minerals in 5th and 6th schedule areas.
Conclusion
Strengthening of institutions meant for delivery of goods and services with adequate administrative, technical and financial powers such as Tribal Welfare Departments as nodal Department, Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Integrated Tribal Development Projects (ITDPs) and creation of new ones where they do not exist etc. Convergence of scattered resources and activities being undertaken under various components is need of the hour.
Introduction
Globalization is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies, and governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment and aided by information technology. Being multi-dimensional and global in nature, this process has effects on the environment, on culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human physical well-being in societies around the world.
India is one of the world’s most unequal countries, with the top 1% getting 21.7% of the national income. Top 10% of Indians capture 57% of the national income, while the share of the bottom 50% is only 13%.
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Globalization has increased inequalities in India
- Globalization created opportunities only for the skilled or wealthy people.This increases the inequality between the rich and poor. This has made urban poor lives much harder, and caused the creation of slums.
- On top of that, unhealthy process of urbanizationis causing the deficiencies in the basic services such as housing, water supply, sanitation. This eventually made the poor as worst victims.
- With globalisation, a trend of establishing industries in the rural areas has started as the availability of land is cheaper as well as unorganized labour. This may sound fruitful but because of the pollution from the industries, lives of the rural people have deteriorated.
- Unemployment ratehas increased and the growth of employment was slowed down during post-globalization period.
- The inequalityalso increased in terms of sectoral share in GDP and employment, and inter-states per capita income.
- In India, globalisation is leading to growth of a new generation of young and rich, and then there are millions of rural and urban poor and this inequality is growinThe rich are becoming preoccupied with their own advancement, given global complexities, the poor are in a state of existential poverty.
- India is also infamous for child labour and underpayment.
- The problem of jobless growth persisted with many people participating in agriculture (disguised employment )
- Greater incorporation of technology which was ill suited for Indian labour market and gave rise to informal sector.
However, Globalisation has also helped to reduced poverty
- High economic growth
- Globalization has become a major factor behind the high economic growth in the country. The favorable economic conditions have put a positive impact on the overall standard of living of the country.
- Between 1981 and 2001 the percentage of rural people living on less than $1 a day decreased from 63 to 42 per cent in India
- Percapita income increase
- Due to the high economic growth, there has been rapid progress in the civic amenities. The per capita income has increased which has improved the standard of living of the masses. As economic growth is a great factor behind the improvement of the poverty, the rise in the economic condition of India had a favorable impact on the reducing the rate of poverty in the country.
- Employment
- Due to the high demand and the supply chains, there has been significant growth in the market. As such, more and more job opportunities are being created in different sectors. This has increased the per capita income considerably which has improved the poverty level to a great extent.
- Agriculture benefitted
- Due to the globalization, Indian agriculture has improved to some extent which has helped to reduce the poverty problems of the rural masses. Due to the globalization and introduction of better equipments, there has been a stark improvement in the techniques of agriculture.
- Improvement in health care costs
- Globalization has also positively affected the overall health care situation in the country. More and more medical innovations are coming in which are improving the health situation in India. The infant mortality rate and the malnutrition rate have significantly come down since the last decade.
- Women
- Technology has also increased access to education in India, especially to women. This has decreased the gap between men and women which was created by stratified gender roles.
- Industrialization
- It offers advantages such as production-scale efficiency, innovative technology, efficient utilisation of labour, net of tax price equalisation, and equalisation of productive world savings and investment resources.
Conclusion
The gap between rich and poor cannot be resolved without deliberate inequality-busting policies. Despite the onslaught of second generation reforms and India joining the club of top economic actors at the global level, there is a long way to go for India before it can boast of substantive achievements in these critical areas. Apart from economic factors, non-economic factors such as deepening democracy and decentralisation can help in reducing inequalities.
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Key findings of the World Inequalities Report, 2022:
- The gap between the rich and the poor in terms of share of national income is quite large, and growing rapidlyas a result of government policies that favour the affluent elite. The richest 10% of the global population takes home 52% of the global income, whereas the poorest 50% got only 8.5% of it.
- Global wealth inequities are worse than income inequalities. While the poorest 50% own just 2% of the global wealth, the richest 10% own 76% of all the wealth.
- Inequality between countries was narrowing while inequality within countries was increasing. While the gap between the average incomes of the richest 10% of countries and the average incomes of the poorest 50% of countries has dropped from 50x to less than 40x, the gap between the average incomes of the top 10% and the bottom 50% of individuals within countries has almost doubled, from 8.5x to 15x.
- Countries are growing richer, governments are becoming poorer:The share of privately owned wealth in national wealth was rising, while that of public wealth (buildings, universities, roads, hospitals etc) was shrinking.
General Studies – 2
Introduction
The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was introduced in Lok Sabha on March 15, 2021. The Bill amends the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991.
The Act provides a framework for the functioning of the Legislative Assembly and the government of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. The Bill amends certain powers and responsibilities of the Legislative Assembly and the Lieutenant Governor.
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Provisions of the new Amendment:
- Restriction on laws passed by the Assembly: The Bill provides that the term “government” referred to in any law made by the Legislative Assembly will imply Lieutenant Governor (LG).
- Rules of Procedure of the Assembly: The Act allows the Legislative Assembly to make Rules to regulate the procedure and conduct of business in the Assembly. The Bill provides that such Rules must be consistent with the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha.
- Inquiry by the Assembly into administrative decisions: The Bill prohibits the Legislative Assembly from making any rule to enable itself or its Committees to: (i) consider the matters of day-to-day administration of the NCT of Delhi and (ii) conduct any inquiry in relation to administrative decisions. Further, the Bill provides that all such rules made before its enactment will be void.
- Assent to Bills: The Act requires the LG to reserve certain Bills passed by the Legislative Assembly for the consideration of the President. These Bills are those: (i) which may diminish the powers of the High Court of Delhi, (ii) which the President may direct to be reserved, (iii) dealing with the salaries and allowances of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, and members of the Assembly and the Ministers, or (iv) relating to official languages of the Assembly or the NCT of Delhi.
- The Bill requires the LG to also reserve those Bills for the President which incidentally cover any of the matters outside the purview of the powers of the Legislative Assembly.
- LG’s opinion for executive actions: The Act specifies that all executive action by the government, whether taken on the advice of the Ministers or otherwise, must be taken in the name of the LG. The Bill adds that on certain matters, as specified by the LG, his opinion must be obtained before taking any executive action on the decisions of the Minister/ Council of Ministers.
Criticism of the Bill:
- Undermines the power of the Assembly: The amended sections of the GNCTD Act diminish the constitutionally guaranteed powers and functions of the elected Assembly.
- Considering LG as the ‘government’ is making a nominated post equivalent to the ‘default administering authority’ of the NCT instead of the elected one.
- Diluting the executive power of elected government and transferring it to the LG and the Secretaries in the government is against the representative form of government envisaged under Article 239 AA of the Constitution.
- The LG, who will now be the government, is under no obligation to implement any law passed by the assembly or carry out the directions of the house as he is not responsible to the assembly.
- Against Co-operative Federalism: The provisions may lead to centralization of power, unnecessary interference by the LG in day-to-day administration and delays in implementation of policies. It would hamper the spirit of co-operative federalism and separation of power.
- Violation of the Supreme Court judgment, 2018: The constitutional bench in the Government of NCT of Delhi vs UoI & ors. 2018 case had held that the LG’s concurrence is not required on all matters and that the control of the Centre is confined to three areas only i.e., land, police and public order.
- Not appropriately discussed: The Act has been passed in haste without being referred to the Select committee
- Violates basic structure: Executive accountability is the essence of the parliamentary system of government, which is a part of the basic structure of the constitution.
- Could lead to Policy paralysis: The Bill also requires the government to obtain the LG’s opinion on decisions before executive action is taken, which runs counter to the constitutional bench’s specific interpretation on the need to inform but not to have to wait for a return of the LG’s opinion, something which could take days, or never come.
Conclusion:
The Supreme Court had adopted the principles of democracy and balanced federalism as the basis for its decision to give unfettered freedom to the elected government to carry out its decisions. The above amendment Bill while nullifying the decision of the Supreme Court does not attempt to change its basis. On the contrary, as the statement of objects and reasons indicates, the Bill tries to define the responsibilities of the elected government and the LG in line with the constitutional scheme of governance of the NCT of Delhi.
Introduction
Alternative Dispute Resolution has become an integral part of the justice system in the current times since it involves rapid settlements and results in outcomes that are often favorable to both parties. Online dispute resolution is a further extension of the same, and the only differentiation is that it involves the utilization or assistance of technology to resolve the disputes.
Retired justice AK Sikri-led committee on the action plan for online dispute resolution, set up by the NITI Aayog, has suggested in its report that the government builds up requisite infrastructure and sufficiently enhances capacity if it intends to mainstream ODR and make it broad-based in India.
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Advantages of online dispute resolution to the Indian judiciary:
- The key advantages of establishment of Electronic Courts in India is bringing in a justice serving mechanism that is transparent, efficient, affordable, time saving, protects the interests of witnesses, reduces the backlog of pending cases and most importantly reduces the number of unscrupulous activities.
- Entire information related to a particular case would be available online. It would be available to the attorneys, parties and the general public through the help of internet.
- Registered attorneys can file their case document directly from their home or office. They do not have to worry about postage, traffic congestion or messenger services. They can create a docket sheet and update it immediately, when the documents are filed.
- With the help of internet, the documents of a case can be accessed easily from anywhere at anytime.
- E-courts would help in the computerization of work flow management in courts. Thus, it would help to create a better court and case management. Video conferencing facilities would be installed in every court complex. Evidence of eyewitness, who are unable to attend the court can be recorded through this method.
- The information would not be misplaced as all the information regarding the case would be carefully recorded and stored. Data keeping would include maintaining the records of e-file minute entries, bail orders, warrants etc.
- In many cases, the witnesses are not able to come to the court and make their statement as the other party is too strong and scares them of the consequences. e-Courts can help in dealing with such cases.
Limitations of online dispute resolution in judiciary:
- E-courts in India is an endless and complicating process. The process of e-filing a document is a difficult process. All the evidence cannot be produced in a digital format.
- Lack of techno legal expertise is the main reason for the poor status of e-courts in India. With the absence of techno legal expertise, electronic courts cannot be established in India. The country requires more techno legal e-court centers so that the project of e-court can achieve success.
- The project of e-court involves a lot of expenditure. It involves the use of a lot of computers and infrastructures. In the long run, e-courts may face the issue of lack of funds.
- Hackers are getting stronger with every passing day. The possibility of e-Courts getting hacked in such a case cannot be denied.
Measures needed:
- It is critical to draw up a well-defined and pre-decided framework as it can help in laying a concrete roadmap and direction to the e-courts scheme of India.
- To achieve this, the government must establish an effective task force consisting of judges, technologists, court administrators, skill developers and system analysts to draw up a blueprint for institutionalizing online access to justice.
- Such a task force must be charged with the responsibility of establishing hardware, software and IT systems for courts; examining application of artificial intelligence benefiting from the data base generated through e-courts projects; establishing appropriate e-filing systems and procedures.
- Creating skill training and recognition for paralegals to understand and to help advocates and others to access the system to file their cases and add to their pleadings and documents as the case moves along.
- Once the blueprint is ready, the High Courts across the country may refer the same to the Rule Committee of the High Court to frame appropriate rules to operationalise the e-court system.
- One aspect that needs to be focused on is the deployment of a robust security system that provides secure access to case information for appropriate parties. The security of e-courts infrastructure and system is of paramount importance.
- Also, user friendly e-courts mechanism, which is simple and easily accessible by the common public will encourage litigants to use such facilities in India.
- The government must also make dedicated efforts in the training of personnel to maintain all the e-data.
- Also, conducting training sessions to familiarize the Judges with the e-courts framework and procedure can give a huge impetus to the successful running of e-courts.
Way forward
- An important balance has to be struck between protecting the rights and interests of its users while ensuring that over-regulation does not stifle innovation.
- The need of the hour is to strengthen the existing legislative framework for ADR and introduce ODR-related amendments.
- This can take the form of an umbrella legislation for mediation, introduction of a data protection law, digitisation of legal processes like notarisation, and requiring mandatory pre-litigation mediation for pre-determined classes of cases.
- Introducing guidelines or principles that, though presently voluntary, should be adopted in letter and spirit by ODR service providers.
- The policy plan recommends that these service providers, which include technology platforms, ODR service centres and neutrals adopt design and ethical principles.
- To ensure that capacity considerations are adequately met, ODR should be rolled out in a phased manner with lessons from each of these phases informing future steps.
Conclusion
Government should take targeted initiatives like setting up legal tech hubs and tax incentives for the private sector to enable faster adoption of ODR. ODR exists at the cusp of these developments and is set to re-structure dispute resolution not just in India but in other nations that are looking at India for inspiration.
Introduction
Taliban have seized power in Afghanistan and captured Kabul triggered by the U.S. withdrawal. The recent decision of Delhi to send a consignment of medicines to Afghanistan is another sign that the government is now coming around to the reality of the Taliban regime in Kabul and is finding ways to reach out to them.
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India-Afghanistan engagement before Taliban
- Trade relations: India is the second-largest destination for Afghan exports.
- Infrastructure development by India: India is the sixth largest donor to Afghanistan in diverse development projects in infrastructure, education and agriculture.
- Some of the major projects include, construction of a 218 km road from Zaranj to Delaram for facilitating movement of goods and services to the Iranian border.
- Construction of Afghan-India Friendship Dam (Salma Dam) in Herat province.
- Construction of Afghan Parliament.
- Political & Security Relations: During the Soviet-Afghan war (1979-89), India was the only South Asian nation to recognize the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan.
- India also provided humanitarian aid to then Afghan President Najibullah’s government. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet forces, India continued to provide Najibullah’s government with humanitarian aid.
- Strategic partnership: India was the first country Afghanistan chose to sign a strategic partnership agreement with.
- India signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2011 to assist in “the training, equipping and capacity- building programs for the Afghan National Security Forces”.
- India aided the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces in fighting the scourge of terrorism, organized crime, trafficking of narcotics and money laundering.
- Defence relations: India donated three Mi-25 attack helicopters to Afghanistan as part of the bilateral strategic partnership to counter the Taliban.
India’s strategic interest in Afghanistan
- Economic importance:
- Natural Resources: Afghanistan has significant oil and gas reserves and has rich source of rare earth materials.
- Threat to financial and strategic investments: Over the past years, India has invested an estimated $3 billion in projects across Afghanistan and has engaged in other soft power tactics to strengthen friendship and goodwill between two nations.
- Taliban takeover not only poses a security threat to India’s assets, but also lays waste to India’s efforts.
- Increasing influence of China and Pakistan: The nexus between the Taliban and the Inter-Services Intelligence of Pakistan raises concerns about Pakistan’s increasing influence within the country.
- Also, absence of U.S. financial and military aid opens up avenues for China to gain influence over the nation.
- Security: Stable government in Kabul is essential to reduce terror activities across south Asia also in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Thus, the most important goal for India remains the prevention of Pakistan from regaining its central role in Afghan affairs.
- However, with Taliban takeover and Pakistan’s influence, security situation now seems precarious.
- Gateway to energy rich central Asia: Afghanistan is situated at crossroads between South Asia and Central Asia and South Asia and the Middle East.
Way forward for India
- Establishing informal links with the Taliban government: It would put New Delhi in a stronger position to ensure that its assets and investments in Afghanistan aren’t imperiled.
- Broader Diplomatic Engagement: India should consider appointing a special envoy dedicated to Afghan reconciliation.
- The envoy can ensure that Indian views are expressed at every meeting, broaden engagement with the Afghan government and other political actors, and reach out to certain Taliban representatives.
- Developmental and Humanitarian aid: Given the continued levels of violence and the impact of the coronavirus on the Afghan economy, India should expand its development assistance.
- Working With and Through Others: India should look to broaden its engagements with Iran and Russia, explore opportunities for cooperation with China, and find common ground with the United States on Afghanistan’s future.
- Such engagements should include investing in a wider diplomatic initiative with the view to carve out areas of convergence.
Conclusion
India needs a long-term strategic approach towards Afghanistan that weaves political, economic, military and diplomatic dimensions into a coherent whole within the framework of a grand strategy. India’s Afghan policy must be based on a clear-cut understanding of India’s strategic goals in the region, and the regional and global strategic environment
Value-addition
Taliban takeover and aftermath
- India conducted Operation Devi Shakti to evacuate more than 800 people including its citizens and Afghan partners from Afghanistan.
- Ministry of External Affairs of Government of India held meeting with Taliban in Doha, focused on safety, security and early return of Indian nationals stranded in Afghanistan, and the travel of Afghan nationals, especially minorities, to India.
- The UN Security Council adopted a resolution condemning deadly attacks in Afghanistan and requiring the Taliban to honour their commitment to let people freely leave Afghanistan and raised calls for combating terrorism and upholding human rights.
- The US has frozen nearly $9.5 billion in assets belonging to the Afghan central bank and stopped shipments of cash to the nation.
General Studies – 3
Introduction
Co-operative banks, which are distinct from commercial banks, were born out of the concept of cooperative credit societies where members from a community band together to extend loans to each other, at favourable terms.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor, indicated that the banking regulator will ring in sweeping regulatory changes to reform urban co-operative banks that have been plagued by a spate of failures, and warned people against parking their savings in banks offering high returns.
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About Urban cooperative banks and advantages
- Broadly, co-operative banks in India are divided into two categories – urban and rural.
- Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) are either scheduled or non-scheduled.
- Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) are registered as cooperative societies under the provisions of, either the State Cooperative Societies Act of the State concerned or the Multi State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002.
- These banks provide a wide range of regular banking and financial services and are located in urban and semi-urban areas.
- Catering urban class: UCBs are organised with the objective of promoting thrift and self-help among the middle class/lower middle-class population and providing credit facilities to the people with small means in the urban/semi-urban centers.
- Financial inclusion: On account of their local feel and familiarity, UCBs were set up to allow ease of access to credit and ensure financial inclusion.
- Attractive interest rates: UCBs remain quite a hit with retail savers and small businesses because they offer attractive interest rates on deposits, far higher than commercial banks.
- Local nature: Due to their local nature, UCBs have an advantage over their commercial rivals in terms of having information both about upcoming business opportunities as well as borrower quality, which national-level banks have a hard time gathering.
Issues faced by Urban cooperative banks
- After initially encouraging UCBs to spring up all over India for financial inclusion, the RBI began to wake up to their poor governance from 2005 when it stopped issuing new UCB licences.
- In 2001, Ahmedabad’s Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank also went bust which landed another 210 UCB in trouble and some of them had to be liquidated.
- The financial robustness of UCBs has been assessed through CAMELS (capital adequacy; asset quality; management; earnings; liquidity; and systems and control) ratings.
- With many of these banks failing, and the RBI encouraged weak ones to merge, the number of UCBs operating in India has shrunk from 1,926 in 2005 to 1,551 by 2018.
- The RBI has also been trying to improve governance at these banks by putting up a Board of Management to oversee them and recent PMC bank crisis has also put the question on the poor condition on the management and regulation of UCB in India.
- Regulatory issues: RBI’s supervision of cooperative banks is not as stringent as that of commercial banks.
- Typically, the state government audits cooperative banks while RBI inspects their books once a year.
- here have also been cases of ignoring the guidelines and directives issued by Reserve Bank of India from time to time leading to unfair practices to inflate the major statistics.
Way Forward
- Fair recruitment: In order to improve efficiency, increase transparency and promote fairness, the decision-making processes pertaining to staff administration, granting of credit and new membership should be clearly laid down.
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- In order to accomplish these goals, UCBs need to have sound processes, professional management and a leadership whose incentives and motivation are totally beyond doubt.
- Technology absorption and deploying smart-banking techniques: It is important to outsmart the competitors and to sustain as well as to grow.
- Umbrella organization for UCBs and instituting a board of management to make them more financially resilient and to enhance the depositors’ confidence.
- Y H Malegam Committee also introduced the concept of board of management (BOM) in UCBs, batted for doing away with dual regulation.
- Independent auditing: As suggested by Madhava Rao Committee, audit of UCB should be done by independent external auditors like commercial banks and be inspected likewise.
- Strictly adhering to RBI norms: The foremost duty of the Urban Co-operative Banks is to implement the rules and regulations and strictly adhere to the set of rules and regulations framed by the Reserve Bank of India for the healthy growth of their bank as well as the healthy growth of the Urban Co- operative Banking sector.
Value addition
R Gandhi Committee recommendations
- Suggestions such as an amendment of the Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act to give more powers over cooperative banks.
- Empowering the regulator to wind up and liquidate banks without involving other regulators under the cooperative societies’ laws.
- BI must improve financial awareness among the poor who deposit money in UCBs, and empower them to take informed decisions.
Introduction
Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) is a set of farming methods, and also a grassroots peasant movement, which has spread to various states in India. It has attained wide success in southern India, especially the southern Indian state of Karnataka where it first evolved. The movement in Karnataka state was born out of collaboration between Mr Subhash Palekar, who put together the ZBNF practices, and the state farmers association Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS).
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About Zero budget natural farming
- The “four wheels” of ZBNF are ‘Jiwamrita’, ‘Bijamrita’, ‘Mulching’ and ‘Waaphasa’.
- Jiwamrita is a fermented mixture of cow dung and urine (of desi breeds), jaggery, pulses flour, water and soil from the farm bund. This isn’t a fertiliser, but just a source of some 500 crore micro-organisms that can convert all the necessary “non-available” nutrients into “available” form.
- Bijamrita is a mix of desi cow dung and urine, water, bund soil and lime that is used as a seed treatment solution prior to sowing.
- Mulching, or covering the plants with a layer of dried straw or fallen leaves, is meant to conserve soil moisture and keep the temperature around the roots at 25-32 degrees Celsius, which allows the microorganisms to do their job.
- Waaphasa, or providing water to maintain the required moisture-air balance, also achieves the same objective.
- Palekar also advocates the use of special ‘Agniastra’, ‘Bramhastra’ and ‘Neemastra’ concoctions again based on desi cow urine and dung, plus pulp from leaves of neem, white datura, papaya, guava and pomegranates for controlling pest and disease attacks.
Benefits of ZBNF to farm incomes
- Low input cost: Zero budget’ farming promises to end a reliance on loans and drastically cut production costs, ending the debt cycle for desperate farmers.
- Higher yield: Besides reduced input cost, farmers practising ZBNF gets higher yields. In Andhra Yields of five crops (paddy, groundnut, black gram, maize and chillies) have increased by 8-32 per cent for ZBNF farmers.
- Farmers are able to get five quintals of red gram under ZBNF compared to three quintals under non-ZBNF.
- Farmers use bio fertilizers and that make the soil fertile, thus giving higher yields.
- Net income raised: There will be increase in net income for farmers and will improve the cash flow of poor and vulnerable farmers, and may enhance their ability to deal with economic shock
- Crop cutting experiments from 2016 and 2017 indicate that ZBNF farmers in AP earn better net incomes and can raise their disposable incomes. Farmers vulnerable to economic shocks have an important safety net against short-term shocks.
- Andhra Pradesh: With its combination of delta regions, arid and hilly tribal areas, districts in Andhra Pradesh are similar to those in other parts of the country and could therefore serve as a model for replication.
- The approach taken to monitor the improvements is vital to understanding the outcomes of large-scale changes that are under way; this is critical to expanding the ZBNF to other States.
- As ZBNF is applied in India’s various agro-ecological zones, making farmers the innovators is essential.
- Resilient food systems are the need of the day given the variability of the monsoons due to global warming and declining groundwater in large parts of India.
- The drought-prone Rayalaseema region (Andhra Pradesh) is reportedly seeing promising changes already in farms with the ZBNF.
- Mixed cropping is the key to recover the cost of production:
- The farmers have to practise mixed cropping, the cost of main crop is recovered by the sale of cash crops that you sow alongside.
- Also, it is about using organic manure,” It takes time but ultimately yields positive results.
Conclusion
The implementation of this project at scale will impact a multitude of stakeholders, and also help India progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations (UN) to facilitate the post-2015 development agenda.
Agricultural scientists in India have to rework their entire strategy so that farming is in consonance with nature. The dominant paradigm of chemical-based agriculture has failed and regenerative agriculture is the emerging new science.
The world is at critical junctures on many planetary boundaries, and establishing a system that shows promise in improving them while supporting people sustainably is surely one worth pursuing.
Introduction
In 2019, the Union government in a bid to free India of single-use plastics by 2022, had laid out a multi-ministerial plan to discourage the use of single-use plastics across the country. In this direction, the Environment Ministry recently issued draft rules that mandate producers of plastic packaging material to collect all of their produce by 2024 and ensure that a minimum percentage of it be recycled as well as used in subsequent supply.
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Plastic waste scenario in India
- According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), India generates close to 26,000 tonnes of plastic a day and over 10,000 tonnes a day of plastic waste remains uncollected.
- According to a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)study the plastic processing industry is estimated to grow to 22 million tonnes (MT) a year by 2020 from 13.4 MT in 2015 and nearly half of this is single-use plastic.
- India’s per capita plastic consumptionof less than 11 kg, is nearly a tenth of the United States of America (109 kg).
Impact of Plastic Waste
- Economic Losses:Plastic waste along shoreline has a negative impact on tourism revenue (creates an aesthetic issue).
- For example, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, are under the plastic threat and facing the aesthetic issue because of the international dumping of plastic wasteat the island.
- Implications for Animals:Plastic wastes have profoundly affected animals in aquatic, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems.
- Plastic ingestionupsets or fills up the digestive systems of the animals thus contributing to their death due to intestinal blockage or starvation.
- Marine animals can also be trapped in plastic wastewhere they are exposed to predators or starve to death.
- The plastics may also contain toxic chemicalswhich can harm the animal’s vital organs or biological functions.
- Implications for Human Health:The chemicals leached from the plastics contain compounds, like polybrominated diphenyl ether (anti-androgen), bisphenol A (mimics the natural female hormone estrogen) and phthalates (also known as anti-androgens), impact human health leading to various hormonal and genetic disorders.
- These chemicals can interfere with the functioning of the endocrine systemand thyroid hormones and can be very destructive to women of reproductive age and young children.
- Land Pollution:Plastics leach hazardous chemicals on land, resulting in the destruction and decline in quality of the earth’s land surfaces in term of use, landscape and ability to support life forms.
- Air Pollution:Plastic burning releases poisonous chemicals into the atmosphere impacting general well-being and causing respiratory disorders in living beings.
- Groundwater Pollution:Whenever plastics are dumped in landfills, the hazardous chemicals present in them seep underground when it rains. The leaching chemicals and toxic elements infiltrate into the aquifers and water table, indirectly affecting groundwater quality.
- Water Pollution:Many lakes and oceans have reported alarming cases of plastic debris floating on water surfaces, affecting a great number of aquatic creatures. It leads to dreadful consequences to marine creatures that swallow the toxic chemicals. In 2014, United Nation report estimated the annual impact of plastic pollution on oceans at US$ 13 billion.
- Interference with the Food Chain:Studies determine that the chemicals affect the biological and reproduction process resulting in reduced numbers of offspring thus disrupting the food chain.
- When the smaller animals (planktons, mollusks, worms, fishes, insects, and amphibians) are intoxicated by ingesting plastic, they are passed on to the larger animals disrupting the interrelated connections within the food chain.
- Poor Drainage:Drainage system clogged with plastic bags, films, and other plastic items, causes flooding.
- Impact on Habitats:Seafloor plastic waste sheets could act like a blanket, inhibiting gas exchange and leading to anoxia or hypoxia (low oxygen levels) in the aquatic system, which in turn can adversely affect the marine life.
- Invasive Species:Plastic waste can also be a mode of transport for species, potentially increasing the range of certain marine organisms or introducing species into an environment where they were previously absent. This, in turn, can cause subsequent changes in the ecosystem of the region.
Measures taken so far to tackle plastic pollution
- In 2019, the Union government in a bid to free India of single-use plastics by 2022, had laid out a multi-ministerial plan to discourage the use of single-use plastics across the country.
- Currently, the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale and use of carry bags and plastic sheets less than 50 microns in thickness in the country.
- The Environment Ministry has notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.
- These rules prohibit specific single-use plastic items which have “low utility and high littering potential” by 2022.
- The permitted thickness of the plastic bags, currently 50 microns, will be increased to 75 microns from 30th September, 2021, and to 120 microns from the 31st December, 2022.
- At the policy level, the concept of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), already mentioned under the 2016 Rules, has to be promoted.
- The Central Pollution Control Board, along with state pollution bodies, will monitor the ban,identify violations, and impose penalties already prescribed under the Environmental Protection Act, 1986.
- The Central Pollution Control Board has reported that 22 States have, in the past, announced a ban on single-use plastic, but this has had little impact on the crisis of waste choking wetlands and waterways and being transported to the oceans to turn into microplastic.
- So far, 22 States and Union Territories have joined the fight to beat the plastic pollution, announcing a ban on single-use plastics such as carry bags, cups, plates, cutlery, straws and thermocol products.
- India has also won global acclaim for its “Beat Plastic Pollution” resolve declared on World Environment Day last year, under which it pledged to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022.
Way forward
- As consumers, we should ensure that all plastic waste leaving our homes is segregated and is not contaminated with food waste.
- Managing plastic waste requires effective knowledge, not only among those who produce the plastic but also among those who handle it.
- The brand owner and manufacturer should try and understand the fates a plastic packaging material would meet after its purpose of packaging has been served.
- Citizens have to bring behavioural change and contribute by not littering and helping in waste segregation and waste management.
- To encourage innovation in development of alternatives to identified single use plastic items and digital solutions to plastic waste management, the India Plastic Challenge – Hackathon 2021, has been organized for students of Higher Educational Institutions and start-ups recognized under Start-up India Initiative.
Conclusion
The pressure on producers to streamline the collection, recycling and processing of all forms of plastic is bound to grow. Individuals and organizations should now actively remove plastic waste from their surroundings and municipal bodies must arrange to collect these articles. Startups and industries should think of newer ways of recycling plastic.
Introduction
The Armed Forces Special Powers Act commonly known as AFSPA came in to force decades ago in the context of increasing violence in the North Eastern states. Passed in 1958 for North East and in 1990 for Jammu and Kashmir , the law gives armed forces necessary powers to control disturbed areas which are designated by the govt.
Following the recent killings of 14 civilians in Nagaland, the Chief Minister has demanded the repeal of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act.
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Key features of act
- In simple terms, AFSPA gives armed forces the power to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”.
- They have the authority to prohibit a gathering of five or more persons in an area, can use force or even open fire after giving due warning if they feel a person is in contravention of the law.
- If reasonable suspicion exists, the army can also arrest a person without a warrant; enter or search premises without a warrant; and ban the possession of firearms.
- Under the provisions of the AFSPA armed forces are empowered with immunity from being prosecuted to open fire , enter and search without warrant and arrest any person who has committed a cognizable offence.
- As of now this act is in force in Jammu and Kashmir , Assam , Nagaland and parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
AFSPA – a draconian act
- It has been dubbed as a license to kill. The main criticism of the Act is directed against the provisions of Section 4, which gives the armed forces the power to open fire and even cause death, if prohibitory orders are violated.
- Human rights activists object on the grounds that these provisions give the security forces unbridled powers to arrest, search, seize and even shoot to kill.
- Activists accuse the security forces of having destroyed homes and entire villages merely on the suspicion that insurgents were hiding there. They point out that Section 4 empowers the armed forces to arrest citizens without warrant and keep them in custody for several days.
- They also object to Section 6, which protects security forces personnel from prosecution except with the prior sanction of the central government. Critics say this provision has on many occasions led to even non-commissioned officers brazenly opening fire on crowds without having to justify their action.
- Critics say the act has failed to contain terrorism and restore normalcy in disturbed areas, as the number of armed groups has gone up after the act was established. Many even hold it responsible for the spiralling violence in areas it is in force.
- The decision of the government to declare a particular area ‘disturbed’ cannot be challenged in a court of law. Hence, several cases of human rights violations go unnoticed.
Should AFSPA be repealed?
- The Army clearly sees AFSPA as a capstone enabling Act that gives it the powers necessary to conduct counter-insurgency operations efficiently.
- If AFSPA is repealed or diluted, it is the army leadership’s considered view that the performance of battalions in counter-insurgency operations will be adversely affected and the terrorists or insurgents will seize the initiative.
- Many argue that removal of the act will lead to demoralising the armed forces and see militants motivating locals to file lawsuits against the army.
- Also, the forces are aware that they cannot afford to fail when called upon to safeguard the country’s integrity. Hence, they require the minimum legislation that is essential to ensure efficient utilization of combat capability.
- AFSPA is necessary to maintain law and order in disturbed areas, otherwise things will go haywire. The law also dissuades advancement of terrorist activities in these areas.
- Also, extraordinary situations require special handling.
Way forward
- Security forces should be very careful while operating in the Northeast and must not give any chance to the militants to exploit the situation.
- Indiscriminate arrests and harassment of people out of frustration for not being able to locate the real culprits should be avoided. All good actions of the force get nullified with one wrong action.
- Any person, including the supervisory staff, found guilty of violating law should be severely dealt with.
- The law is not defective, but it is its implementation that has to be managed properly.
- The local people have to be convinced with proper planning and strategy.
Conclusion
The practical problems encountered in ensuring transparency in counter-insurgency operations must be overcome by innovative measures. The army must be completely transparent in investigating allegations of violations of human rights and bringing the violators to speedy justice. Exemplary punishment must be meted out where the charges are proved.
Value addition
Expert recommendations
- A committee headed by Justice Jeevan Reddy was appointed in 2004 to review AFSPA. Though the committee found that the powers conferred under the Act are not absolute, it nevertheless concluded that the Act should be repealed.
- However, it recommended that essential provisions of the Act be inserted into the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967.
- The Second Administrative Reforms Commission headed by then Union law minister M Veerappa Moily also recommended that AFSPA should be repealedand its essential provisions should be incorporated in the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
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