General Studies Paper 1

Context

• The Union of India calls the Bhopal gas leak tragedy the world’s largest industrial disaster. The government demanded more compensation in its curative petition. Thirty-nine years after the incident, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice S. K. Kaul has reserved its judgment on a curative petition filed by the Centre in November 2010 to enhance the $470 million (about ₹725 crore at the then exchange rate) compensation fixed in a 1989 settlement reached with Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), now a wholly owned subsidiary of Dow Chemicals, with the imprimatur of the apex court. The government has sought an additional amount of ₹675.96 crore in compensation from the pesticide company. The UCC has refused to pay a “farthing more”. The court made it clear that it would not “try” the curative petition like an ordinary suit and reopen the settlement.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy (1984):

• Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) leaked from the pesticide plant of Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals), an MNC, in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal.
• It is estimated that about 40 tonnes of gas and other chemicals leaked from the Union Carbide factory.
• Methyl isocyanate: It is an extremely toxic gas and if its concentration in the air touches 21ppm (parts per million), it can cause death within minutes of inhaling the gas.
• It is one of the worst chemical disasters globally and still continues to have its ill effects on the people of the affected areas.
• Public Liability Insurance Act (1991):
  • Making it mandatory for industries to get insurance,
  • The premium for this insurance would contribute to an Environment Relief Fund to provide compensation to victims of a Bhopal-like disaster.

Chemical Disaster:

• They are a by-product of
• The Indian chemical industries comprise small, medium and large-scale units.
• The chemical industry includes:
• basic chemicals and their intermediates
• petrochemicals
• fertilizers, paints, pesticides
• bulk drugs and pharmaceuticals (most diversified industrial sectors)

Rules governing the safety of the workers employed in factories and industries:

• Indian Factories Act, 1948.
• The Dock Workers (Safety, Health & Welfare) Act, 1986.
• These legislations regulate the working conditions of individuals employed at sites of industrial activity and prescribe rules for the maintenance of site safety.
• Labour codes.

What is the issue now?

• Supreme Court:It has reserved its judgment on a curative petition filed by the Centre in 2010 to enhance the $470 million, compensation fixed in a 1989 settlement reached with Union Carbide Corporation (UCC).
• The government has sought an additional amount of ₹675 crore in compensation from the pesticide company.
• The UCC has refused to pay a “farthing more”.

What is the basis for the plea for more compensation?

• The basis of the $470 million settlement:there were only around 3,000 death cases in the gas leak incident.
• The government’s curative petition in 2010 said the actual figure is 5,295 deaths.
• Report submitted by the Welfare Commissioner, Bhopal Gas Victims: It shows the number of deaths have increased to 5,479 as on December 15, 2022.
• The Commissioner’s report further said the number of cases of cancer and renal failure were 16,739 and 6,711, respectively.
• The government’s chart shows that the total number of cases of deaths, disability, injuries, loss of property and livestock have increased to around five lakh seventy four thousand from the two lakh “assumed.

Is more relief possible in a curative petition?

• Ashok Hurra versus Rupa Hurra case(2002):
• It is the rarest-of-rare remedies when “the duty to do justice shall have to prevail over the policy of certainty of a judgment and declining justice would be oppressive to judicial conscience and perpetuate an irremediable injustice”.

A party can take only two limited grounds in a curative petition:

• He/she was not given an opportunity to be heard,
• Judges were biased.

What are the rival contentions?

• Attorney General of India:It had urged the court to look beyond the conservative principles of law(beyond the restrictions of the curative jurisdiction).
• Government: Parliament had enacted the Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster (Processing of Claims) Act of 1985.
  • It has an obligation to protect the victims’ interests “effectively and equitably”.
• The UCC:
• Settlement was arrived at on the basis of a “consent decree” sourced from a suit.
• The liability of UCC for the tragedy was never established.
• There was no “reopener clause” in the settlement.

Way Forward

• At the heart of the legal dispute is a paragraph from the October 3, 1991 order of the Supreme Court. The paragraph discussed the “unlikely event” of the 1989 settlement funds being found insufficient to satisfy the claims of all the victims. While stressing that the victims should not be left to “fend for themselves”, the court, in 1991, had said the “reasonable way to protect the interests of the victims is to hold that the Union of India, as a welfare state and in the circumstances under which the settlement was made, should not be found wanting in making good the deficiency, if any”.

General Studies Paper 2

Context:

• Tamil Nadu Governor walked out of the Tamil Nadu Assembly when CM Stalin interrupted the governor’s speech after the former had omitted a few words from his govt-prepared special address.

About the Special address

• Both in the K. and in India, it is a time-honoured constitutional convention that the King or the President or the Governor must read out the exact text of the speech or special address which informs the nation or the State of the policies that an elected government intends to pursue.
• Neither House of Parliament can proceed with any public business in any further session unless it is opened either by the King himself or by Lord’s Commissioners acting on his behalf.
• The King’s speech is thus the formal beginning of each new session of Parliament and states the government’s policy and the intended programme of business for the forthcoming session.
  • There has never been an incident of the monarch in the U.K. departing from the official text of his speech.

Adoption in India 

•  As India adopted the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy, the Constituent Assembly decided, on May 18, 1949, to adopt this practice.
• Article 87of the Indian Constitution requires the President to make a special address to both Houses of Parliament assembled on the commencement of the first session of each year.

• • The President has to inform Parliament of the causes of its summons.

• Article 176requires the Governor to make a special address at the first session of each year of every State Legislative Assembly and to both Houses wherever the State also has a Legislative Council.

• • The language of these provisions was borrowed from the rules of the House of Commons.

Controversies 

• The Governor of Tamil Nadu, R.N. Ravi, made constitutional history in the State by omitting certain paragraphs and departing from the official text of his special address at the opening of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu for 2023.
• This is not the first time that a governor has refused to read the address sent by the Government.

• • In 1967, Rajasthan Governor Sampuranand did it.

• It is disturbing that serious breaches of constitutional conventions continue to be made by Governors in States ruled by Opposition parties.

• • Article 361 of the Constitution gives the Governor complete immunity from any legal action because our founding fathers hoped that Governors would maintain the highest standards of rectitude and propriety.

• A later governor of West Bengal, Dharma Vira, too had skipped certain portions of the speech sent to him by the government, particularly the portion dealing with his dismissal of the first United Front Government in Bengal.

• • The Calcutta High Court had by then upheld the governor’s decision and termed the dismissal as constitutional.

Views of Lawmakers 

• Jawaharlal Nehru, speaking in the Lok Sabha in 1960, stated that the President’s address is nothing but a statement of policy of the government.

• • He observed: “If the President’s address has anything wrong in it or objectionable in it, it is the government to blame not the President, and it is open to Members to criticise or condemn government because there is some such statement in it which they disapprove of”.

• During the Constituent Assembly debates, Professor K.T. Shah proposed an amendment to Article 87 giving discretion to the President to also make an address on “other particular issues of policy he deems suitable for such address”.
• This amendment was rejected asR. Ambedkar pointed out that the President, under Article 86, had the right to address either House or both Houses of Parliament together and Parliament had to assemble for this purpose.
• Similar power was given to the Governor under Article 175. 

• • Thus, when there is an independent power provided under Article 175, it is a serious impropriety for any Governor (or even the President) to omit several paragraphs from the speech prepared by the incumbent government.

Observations of Court’s 

• The Calcutta High Court, while interpreting this article in Syed Abdul Mansur Habibullah v. The Speaker, West Bengal Legislative Assembly (1966),held that the special address is not an idle or ceremonial formality.

• •  It keeps the members informed about the executive policies and legislative programme of the State government.

• The High Court further observed that the non-delivery of the special addresshampers legislative debates and budgetary criticisms.

• • The HC held that when the governor fails to deliver his address under Article 176 and walks out of the House after laying down the address on the table of the House, this is mere irregularity, not illegality.

• The Supreme Court has held that constitutional conventions are as much a part of the Constitution as its written text. And it is well-settled that constitutional morality consists of not only adherence to the written text of the Constitution but also to constitutional conventions.

• • These conventions fill the interstices of a written Constitution and enable effective coordination between the legislature, executive and the judiciary.

• In Yogender Singh Handa v. State of Rajasthan (1967), the Rajasthan High Court held that some portion read by the governor was good enough to deem the whole address as read.

Conclusion and Way Forward 

• The special address of the Governor is an important constitutional duty, which is performed with the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers with the Chief Minister at the head.
• The constitutional role of the Governor is that of an elder statesman who brings a sense of gravitas to this high office, and by his oath, must preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law.
• The residents of Raj Bhavans are expected to be above party politics and should not hamper the functioning of a duly elected State government.
• It is a tribute to our Constitution that it continues to be the steel frame of India’s republican democracy and has survived for over 70 years.
• Both governors and chief ministers, as constitutional functionaries, should respect each other and at least have a working relationship.

General Studies Paper 2

• The Report Levels and Trends in Child Mortalitywas released recently by the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNIGME). The Report estimates that globally, 5 million children died before their fifth birthday (under-five mortality) in 2021. Of these, 2.3 million deaths occurred in the first month (neonatal deaths). India’s share in under-five deaths is 709,366 (~0.7 million, 14% share) and the share in neonatal deaths is 441,801 (~0.4 million, 19% share). Many of these deaths are preventable. Moreover there are wide variations in the child mortality in India, between various States, and between rural and urban areas. The Government has taken several steps to reduce child mortality in India. While there have been visible benefits of these measures, efforts should be continued to bring the child mortality level to that of the developed countries.

Child Mortality and its status in India:

• Child Mortality is the death (mortality) of children under 5 years of age. According to UNICEF, Child Mortality or Under-5 Mortality Rate refers to the probability a newborn would die before reaching exactly 5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
• Infant Mortality Rate(IMR) refers to the probability of dying between birth and exactly 1 year of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
• Neonatal Mortality Rate(NMR) refers to the probability of dying during the first 28 days of life,  expressed per 1,000 live births.
• Trends in India: According to the Sample Registration System (SRS) Statistical Report, 2020released in September 2022, India’s Under-5 Mortality Rate stood at 32 while Infant and Neonatal Mortality Rates were 28 and 20 respectively.

• The NMR ranges from 23 in rural areas to 12 in urban areas. The IMR ranges from 31 in rural areas to 19 in urban areas.
• According to the SRS 2020 Report, 6 States/ UTs have already attained SDG target of NMR(<=12 by 2030). These are Kerala (4), Delhi (9), Tamil Nadu (9), Maharashtra (11), Jammu & Kashmir (12) and Punjab (12).
• 11 States/UTs have already attained SDGs target of U5MR(<=25 by 2030). These are Kerala (8), Tamil Nadu (13), Delhi (14), Maharashtra (18), J&K (17), Karnataka(21), Punjab (22), West Bengal (22), Telangana (23), Gujarat (24), and Himachal Pradesh (24).

Reasons for high Child Mortality in India:

1. Poor Infrastructure: There are structural issues like lack of appropriate facility at primary healthcare centres, delays in referring patients [to specialists] and lack of transportation(especially in rural and remote areas) which lead to high infant deaths.
2. Poor Nutrition: A significant proportion of population lives below the poverty line. Pregnant women in poor families lack access to adequate nourishment during pregnancy which results in complications in pregnancy and child-birth. Poor nutrition during pregnancy also leads to nutrition deficiency in the child.
3. Lack of Skilled Personnel: There is shortage of doctors, nurses, and other staff, especially in rural areas. This hinders regular supervision and timely referral of women to emergency obstetric care when complications are diagnosed.
4. Education and Awareness Deficit: Women in poor families lack awareness about nutrition requirement. They may also be unaware of other precautions required during and after childbirth. They rely more on traditional midwives in comparison to modern healthcare
5. Child Marriage: Child Marriage is still prevalent in many parts of India. It leads to early pregnancy (younger age) and more frequent pregnancies etc. Children born to early pregnancies are more vulnerable to death at early age.
6. Premature Births: Premature birth refers to child born before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Premature or ‘Preterm Babies’ are two to four times at higher risk of death after birth in comparison to those born after 37 weeks of gestation.

Steps taken to reduce Child Mortality:

1. National Rural Health Mission: The launch of facility-based newborn care under the National Rural Health Mission has created Newborn Baby Care Corners at every point of childbirth, Newborn Stabilisation Units at First Referral Units (Community Health Centres) and Special Newborn Care Units at District Hospitals across the country.
2. The Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme: The beneficiaries under the Scheme are children in the age group of 0-6 years, pregnant women and lactating mothers. Among its various objectives are to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 yearsand to reduce the incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout.
3. Capacity Building of Health Care Providers: Various trainings are being conducted under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to train doctors, nurses and ANM for early diagnosis and case management of common ailments of children. These trainings are being undertaken under the Integrated Management of Neonatal and Child Illness, Navjat Shishu Suraksha Karyakram(NSSK) etc. Funds and technical support are provided by the Government of India under NHM to the States for conducting these trainings.
4. Management of Malnutrition: Malnutrition reduces resistance of children to infections thus increasing mortality and morbidity among children. National Health Management is emphasising management of malnutrition to reduce child mortality. (a)Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) have been established for management of severe acute malnutrition; (b) Exclusive breastfeeding for first six months and appropriate infant and young child feeding practices are being promoted in convergence with Ministry of Woman & Child Development; (c) Ministry of Health & Family Welfare launched ‘MAA-Mothers’ Absolute Affection‘ programme in August, 2016 for improving breast feeding practices (Initial Breastfeeding within 1 hour, Exclusive Breastfeeding up to 6 months and Complementary Breastfeeding up to 2 years) through mass media and capacity building of health care providers in healh facilities as well as in communities; (d) National Nutrition Mission: It is the government’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers. It aims to reduce stunting and wasting by 2% per year (total 6% until 2022) among children and anaemia by 3% per year (total 9% until 2022) among children, adolescent girls and pregnant women and lactating mothers; (e) Management of Anaemia in Children: National Iron Plus Initiative (NIPI) was launched which was based on the life-cycle approach and covers all age-groups.
5. Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC): As 57 % of child deaths take place in the first 28 days of birth, home based newborn care through ASHA is being provided. The purpose of Home Based Newborn Care is to improve newborn practices at the community leveland early detection and referral of sick newborn babies. The schedule of ASHA for Home Based Newborn Care consists of 6 visits in case of institutional deliveries.
6. Universal Immunisation Program (UIP): It was first introduced in 1985. Immunization is one of the key area under the National Health Mission(NHM). Under UIP, immunization is provided free of cost against 12 vaccine-preventable diseases; Nationally against 9 diseases: Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, Rubella, Hepatitis B, and Meningitis and Pneumonia; Sub-nationally against 3 diseases: Rotavirus diarrhoea, Pneumococcal Pneumonia, and Japanese Encephalitis. Mission Indradhanush (2014) and Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI)-2017 (recent version 4.0) have been launched to strengthen and re-energize the programme and achieve full immunization coverage for all children and pregnant women at a rapid pace.
7. Protecting Mothers: Paalan1000: Journey of the First 1000 Days’, focuses on the cognitive developments of children in the first 2 years. PAALAN 1000 parenting app provides caregivers with practical advice on what they can do in their everyday routine and helps resolve the various doubts of parents and directs efforts in the development of a child.
8. Matritva Sahyog Yojana: It is a conditional Maternity Benefit(CMB) Scheme. The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development as the centrally sponsored scheme. It was launched for pregnant and lactating women to improve their health and nutrition status by providing cash incentives to pregnant and nursing mothers.
9. Policy Targets: In the National Health Policy (NHP) of 2017, the Government had committed to investing 5% of the GDP on health by 2025. Child Health Goals under SDG include Goal 3.2: By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborn and children under 5 years of age, with aim to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1000 live births. India’s own NHP targets NMR of 16 and U5MR of 23 by 2025.

What more steps can be taken to further reduce Child Mortality?

• First, Since ~50% of all under-5 deaths are among newborns, many can be prevented by reaching higher coverage of good quality antenatal care, skilled care at birth, postnatal care for the mother and the baby, and care of small and sick newborns. Focus should be on both antenatal and postnatal care.
• Second, many child deaths are preventable through cost-effective interventions such as kangaroo care(where babies are kept in skin-to-skin contact with the mother), thermal control, breastfeeding support and basic care against infections and breathing difficulties. Enhancing awareness about these techniques in new mothers can help avoid these preventable deaths.
• Third, The Government should address the neglected challenges like Stillbirths and preterm births. Both are highly sensitive ‘tracer indicators’ of the quality of maternal and child health services in particular, and overall health services in general.
• Fourth, India’s health system needs more Government funding. At present, it is ~ 1.5% of the GDP. Children continue to die from preventable causes; pregnant women do not receive good quality care; aggregate mortality hides the inequities in health outcomes and the primary healthcare system is underfunded. The poorest and marginalised families bear the brunt of these inequities. Enhancing spending on healthcare can rectify these shortcomings.
• Fifth, The States should cooperate with each other and share the best practices amongst themselves in the spirit of cooperative federalism, e.g., the practices of Kerala can be replicated in other states like West Bengal, Bihar, Assam etc.
• Sixth, The Government should provide greater incentives to ASHA workers who can raise awareness among the masses about the modern healthcare systems. Further, the government can enter into agreements with private medical colleges and induce greater numbers of doctors to serve in rural areas.

Conclusion

• Child Mortality has improved a lot in last 2 decades. However, there is still a scope for lot of improvement. Learnings from successful interventions must be used in designing future interventions. Healthcare spending must be enhanced. ASHA workers are a crucial lever in the rural healthcare set-up. Their concerns should be adequately addressed, including enhancing their remuneration. Their role will be crucial in ensuring the achievement of the healthcare targets under the SDGs.

General Studies Paper 2

WHY IN NEWS:

• In the last week of December 2022, the Election Commission of India (ECI) wrote to the major political parties. Through the letter, the Commission invited the parties to attend to attend a demonstration of the prototype Remote Voting Machine (RVM) on January 16, 2023. The Commission has also asked them to send in their comments by January 31, 2023. It is expected that the remote voting facility will improve electoral turn-outs by enabling migrants in different parts of India to vote, without having to physically visit the voting booths in their home constituencies. At the same time there are concerns related to the integrity of the process, which is absolutely essential to ensure free and fair elections. Hence, it important to take a cautious approach, consult all stakeholders and take them on-board before the launch of the remote voting facility.

What is Remote Voting ?

• Remote Voting refers to all means which allow electors to vote from locations other than the polling station assigned to the location where they are registered to vote. The remote voting location can be either abroad or from within the country. It comprises both electronic voting and non-electronic voting mechanisms.
• There have been demands from various political parties that the ECI should ensure that migrant workers and NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) who miss out on voting should be allowed to vote for their constituency from the city they are working in. Many such voters aren’t able to visit their home constituency to vote because of multitude of reasons including professional commitments, cost of travelling etc.

How is the Remote Voting proposed to be implemented in India?

• The ECI has come up with a prototype Remote Voting Machine (RVM). It is a modified version of the existing Electronic Voting Machine (EVM). The RVM has been developed with the assistance of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL).

Hardware and Voting Process

• The RVMs are ‘stand alone, non-networked systems‘, effectively providing the voter the same experience as currently used EVMs. They will be set up in remote locations outside the State under similar conditions as current polling booths.
• The unique feature of RVMs is that a single Remote Ballot Unit (RBU) can cater to multiple constituencies(up to 72) by using a ‘dynamic ballot display board’ instead of the usual printed paper ballot sheet on the EVMs.
• Based on the constituency number read from the voter’s Constituency card, the Ballot Unit Overlay Display(BUOD) will display the required candidates. These cards will be read using a barcode scanning system.
• After verifying a voter’s identity, their constituency card will be read with a public display showing the constituency details and candidates. This will also be displayed privately, on the BUOD in the RVM’s RBU. The voter will then vote and each vote will be stored constituency-wisein the control unit of the voting machine.

Process of Registration

• The remote voter will have to pre-registerfor the remote voting facility by applying online or offline with the Returning Officer of the home constituency. The special polling stations would then be set up in the places of current residence of the remote voters.

Security

• According to the ECI, the RVM, like the EVM, would not be connected to the internet. The Returning Officer (RO) in the remote location will load the symbols of candidates into the unit using a laptop. These laptops would not be connected to the internet. Representatives of political parties and candidates would be invited to be present when the symbols are loaded onto the unit. The symbols would be visible on a display unit for all to see. This will ensure that the process is transparent and is not susceptible to manipulation.

Benefits of Remote Voting:

• Disenfranchisement of Voters: There are an estimated 600 million internal migrants as of 2020(450 million according to Census 2011). Approximately 85% of migration is within the States.
• Voting Turnout: The electoral turn-out has improved since the time of the first General Elections. The First General Elections (1951-52) witnessed turn-out of 45.7%. In 1960s-70s, the turn-out used to be between 50-60% (61.3% in 1967). In 2014 and 2019 General Elections, the turn-out touched 66.44% and 67.40% respectively. Yet, almost 33% voters failed to cast their vote. In 2019, this translated to almost 300 million (30 crore) registered voters failing to exercise their democratic right.
• Promote Inclusion: Remote voting solutions can help facilitate voting for voters who are unable to travel far because of factors like old age or disability.

Challenges associated with Remote Voting:

• Legal: (a)Amendments will be needed in Representation of the People Act, 1950 and 1951; Conduct of Election Rules, 1961; and The Registration of Electors Rules, 1960; (b) The ‘Migrant voter’ will need to be defined in terms of period and purpose of absence; (c) The process of Remote voting itself will need to be defined as whether ‘remoteness’ means outside the Constituency, District or State.
• Administrative: There are several challenges like: (a)Requirement of comprehensive migrant database and enumerating remote voters; (b) Ensuring secrecy of voting at remote locations; (c) Preventing impersonation; (d) Deciding number and location of remote polling booths; (e) Appointing polling personnel for remote polling stations; (f) Implementing model code in locations outside the poll-bound State; (g) Creating awareness about the remote voting facility among poor and illiterate migrant voters; (h) Placing remote voting in the electoral concept of territorial constituencies or demarcated areas in States for equal representation of votes.
• Technological: (a)Familiarising voters with multi-constituency RVM; (b) Counting votes cast at remote booths and transmitting results to returning officers in poll-bound State.

What are the major concerns related with Remote Voting in India?

• Might favour Big National Parties: Smaller regional parties may lack enough cadre strength to deploy at remote voting locations, for political canvassing as well as monitoring the remote voting process. National Parties are better placed in this regard having nation-wide cadre of political workers. Allowing Remote Voting across the country for State Assembly elections will deny opportunity to regional parties to send in their nominees to booths.
• Urban Apathy: Experts attribute low turn-out typically to ‘urban apathy’, ‘youth apathy’ and ‘migration-based disenfranchisement’. Voting turn-out has been low in urban/metropolitan areas despite low out-migration from these regions. Remote voting will be able to address only the 3rd reason of the above.
• Union-State Rights: The ECI plans to bring in a common electoral roll that can be used for elections to the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, and Local Bodies. Opposition Parties contend that this would impinge on the federal rights of the States since the preparation of electoral rolls come under the exclusive domain of the State Election Commissions.
• Concern raised by ECI: ECI has also expressed concern that several things have to be defined like ‘migrant voter’, ‘ordinary residence’, ‘temporary absence’ etc. Procedural issues like Implementation of MCC in remote States need to be sorted.

What should be the approach going ahead?

• First, It is critical that any system of remote voting take into account the trust and acceptability of all stakeholders in the electoral system including voters and political parties. Political consensus is a must before the introduction of Remote Voting.
• Second, The issue should be properly debated in the Parliament and the relevant laws should be amended.
• Third, The ECI has to build confidence among the voters and political parties about the transparency and the integrity of the Remote Voting process.

Conclusion

• The ECI is renowned world over for its impeccable record in conducting free and fair elections, at such a grand scale. The ECI has driven unique innovations in electoral processes in India like the EVMs, voting IDs etc. Remote Voting Machines (RVMs) can be a revolutionary development in facilitating enfranchisement of migrant voters. However, the process has to be fool-proof and error free. All political parties should be on-board and be convinced about the transparency and integrity of the process. It should be introduced only after thorough deliberations and political consensus.

General Studies Paper 3

CONTEXT:

• The latest estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) suggest that the Indian economy grew by 3(six point three)percent in the last quarter compared to last year, with full-year growth expected to be around 7 percent.

Gross Domestic product(GDP):

• GDP is a measure of economic activity in a country.
• It is the total value of a country’s annual output of goods and services.
• It gives the economic output from the consumers’ side.

Real and Nominal GDP:

• Nominal GDP is calculated as per the market prices for the year for which the GDP is calculated.
• Real GDP is calculated as per the market prices in the base year.
• The Real GDP negates the inflation in goods and services.

National accounts data shows:

• Average income in India is lower in 2021-22compared to the pre-pandemic year of 2018-19
• Per-capita income declining at 25(zero point two five)percent per annum.

 Cases:

• Case of farmers(the largest occupational group): Farmers’ income declined by 5(one point five) percent per year between 2016-17 and 2020-21.
• Case of casual workers:(monthly data from the labor bureau): Real wages in non-agricultural occupations between September 2017-2022 declined by 9(zero point nine) percent per annum
• almost stagnant for agricultural occupations with real wages rising by 1(zero point one) percent per year.
• Cultivators and rural wage laborers account for 78 percent of all rural workers
  • Their share in the economy is 53 percent.
• Four-fifths of rural workers have not seen any increase in their incomes in the last five years.

Current Issues:

• Rural households and the poor that have seen a decline in incomes.
• Better-protected regular workers in urban areas have not fared better.
• Employment-Unemployment Surveys of the National Statistical Office (NSO) and the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS): suggest that real earnings of regular workers have declined across categories(male and female, rural and urban).
• Between 2011-12 and 2017-18: earnings of rural regular workers declined by 3(zero point three) percent per annum while it declined at a faster pace of 7(one point seven) percent per annum in urban areas.
• Between 2017-18 and 2020-21: further declines by 7(zero point seven) percent in rural areas and 3(one point three)percent in urban areas.
• In 2020-21:
• average rural regular worker was earning only 96 percent of the salary in 2011-12 in real terms
• Urban; It was only 86 percent in urban areas.
• Together with cultivators and rural casual wage workers(account for 83 percent of all workers in the country).
• All of them have seen their real earnings decline in the last five years.

PLFS data:

• Real earnings of households from all forms of employment declined(between 2018-19 and 2020-21):decline in per capita incomes reported by the national accounts.
• PLFS estimates of earnings from employment: The decline was largely in the urban areas where earnings declined by 2(four point two) percent per annum.
• Rural areas: per capita earnings from employment actually rising by 7(two point seven) percent.
• Consumption expenditure:
• The consumption expenditure of the urban areas declined by 4 percent whereas it increased in rural areas.
• Urban areas: highly educated among the regular workers have seen faster decline in real earnings compared to illiterates and bare literates.

Consumer Confidence Surveys (CCS) of the RBI:

• Urban economy: Shows distress in the urban economy.
• It tracks the economic situation in 13 major urban centers
• It seeks the perception of respondents on the current as well as future economic situation.
• Last five years: the net response to the economic situation has been negative.
• Case with incomes: more respondents reporting a decline in incomes compared to those who report improvement.
• Case of non-essential spending continues to remain negative until the last data.

Annual financial statement (AFS)

• The Constitution of India does not specifically use the word Budget.
• Article 112 provides for laying before Parliament an ‘Annual Financial Statement’ providing a statement of the estimated receipts and expenditure for the upcoming year in relation to estimates for the current year as also actual expenditure for the previous year.
• This statement evidences the receipts and expenditure of the Government in three separate parts under which accounts are maintained i.e. the Consolidated Fund (Article 266), Contingency Fund (Article 267)and Public Account (Article 266).
• AFS distinguishes the expenditure on revenue accounts from the expenditure on other accounts, as mandated in the Constitution of India. It comprises Revenue budget and Capital budget.
• The estimates of receipts and expenditure included in the Annual Financial Statement are for expenditure net of refunds and recoveries

 Way Forward

• The distress in the economy is no longer a rural phenomenon: It is far more widespread with even the better protected and middle classes in urban areas experiencing it due to declining incomes.
• The challenge for the government is not just to protect the poor and vulnerable through increased spending on social protection given the inflationary spell.
• It also needs to raise incomes for the majority of rural and urban population.
• Increasing disposable income among the middle classes is the only way to increase discretionary demand in the economy.
• The budget has the unenviable task of reviving the economy even at the cost of the short-term objective of fiscal management.

General Studies Paper 3

Artificial intelligence(AI):

• It is a branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers.
• It describes the action of machines accomplishing tasks that have historically required human intelligence.
• It includes technologies like machine learning, pattern recognition, big data, neural networks, self algorithms etc.

g: Facebook’s facial recognition software which identifies faces in the photos we post, the voice recognition software that translates commands we give to Alexa, etc are some of the examples of AI already around us.

Deep Fakes:

• It is a method for manipulating videos, images, audios utilizing powerful computers and deep learning.
• It is used to generate fake news and commit financial fraud among other wrong doings.
• It overlays a digital composite over an already-existing video, picture, or audio; cybercriminals use Artificial Intelligence technology.

Issues with deep fakes:

• Deep fake videos can be used to spread misinformation and propaganda.
• They compromise the public’s ability to distinguish between fact and fiction.
• There has been a history of using deepfakes to depict someone in a compromising and embarrassing situation.
• For instance, there is no dearth of deep fake pornographic material of celebrities.
• Deep fake photos and videos do not only amount to an invasion of privacy of the people reportedly in those videos, but also to harassment.
• Deep Fakes have been used for financial fraud:
• Example: scammers used AI-powered software to trick the CEO of a U.K. energy company over the phone into believing he was speaking with the head of the German parent company.

How deep fakes can be used as weapons against countries?

• Deepfakes can be used to influence elections.
• Deep fakes can also be used to carry out espionage activities.
• Doctored videos can be used to blackmail government and defense officials into divulging state secrets.
• The Ukrainian President revealed that a video posted on social media in which he appeared to be instructing Ukrainian soldiers to surrender to Russian forces was actually a deep fake.
• India: Deep fakes could be used to produce inflammatory material, such as videos purporting to show the armed forces or the police committing ‘crimes’ in areas with conflict.
• Deep Fakes could be used to radicalize populations, recruit terrorists, or incite violence.

Laws and regulations globally:

• Taiwan’s cabinet approved amendments to election laws to punish the sharing of deep fake videos or images.
• China: It has introduced regulations prohibiting the use of deep fakes deemed harmful to national security or the economy.
• These rules apply to content creators who alter facial and voice data.

Laws in India:

• Section 500 of the IPC provides punishment for defamation.
• Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act punish sexually explicit material in explicit form.
• The Representation of the People Act, 1951: prohibits the creation or distribution of false or misleading information about candidates or political parties during an election period.
• The Election Commission of India registered political parties and candidates to get pre-approval for all political advertisements on electronic media, including TV and social media sites, to help ensure their accuracy and fairness.

Way Forward

• Deepfakes could enable individuals to deny the authenticity of genuine content, particularly if it shows them engaging in inappropriate or criminal behavior, by claiming that it is a deep fake.
• ‘Liar’s Dividend ‘(professors Danielle Keats Citron and Robert Chesney):This refers to the idea that individuals can exploit the increasing awareness and prevalence of deepfake technology to their advantage by denying the authenticity of certain content.
• There is often a lag between new technologies and the enactment of laws to address the issues and challenges they create.
• The legal framework related to AI in India is insufficient to adequately address the various issues that have arisen due to AI algorithms.
• The Union government should introduce separate legislation regulating the nefarious use of deepfakes and the broader subject of AI.
• Legislation should not hamper innovation in AI
• The proposed Digital India Bill can also address this issue.
• We can’t always rely on the policy of self-regulation.

We must add rigor and responsibility to developing AI technology, enforce ethical guidelines, conduct regular audits for fairness, identify and address biases, and protect privacy and security.

General Studies Paper 3

CONTEXT:

• The town of Joshimath in Uttarakhand is witnessing an unprecedented crisis. Wide Cracks have appeared on the roads and on hundreds of residential and commercial buildings in the town. Many structures have been declared unsafe, and the residents have been asked to vacate them. The Authorities have declared Joshimath as a landslide and subsidence-hit zone. The whole town is sinking. While the town is situated in a geologically unstable region, the major reason for sinking is being attributed to large-scale development projects being undertaken in the region. The Government and its agencies have responded to the crisis through various measures, yet they are rightly being criticized for long ignoring the warnings given by various environmental activists and geological experts about uncontrolled development being undertaken in the region.

About Joshimath

• Joshimath, is a town situated in Chamoli District of Uttarakhand. It is located in the Middle Himalayas at an altitude of ~1875 m. Joshimath is a religious and tourist place, and is situated near holy shrine of Badrinath (one of the Char Dhamsin Uttarakhand). It is also proximal to Valley of Flowers National Park and Shri Hemkund Sahib (a holy shrine in Sikhism).

• The Town is situated in a geologically unstable region (Seismic Zone V). It is situated north of Main Central Thrust (of Himalayas) nearby Tapovan Fault. (Vaikrita Thrust and Panduksehwar Thrusts are very close to Joshimath). Its location nearby a fault is one of the reasons making it susceptible to subsidence.

What is Land Subsidence?

• According to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Land subsidence is sinking of the ground because of underground material movement. Subsidence can be caused by gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface.
• Subsidence is generally caused by: (a)Resource Extraction: The removal of water, oil, natural gas, or mineral resources out of the ground by pumping, fracking, or mining etc.; (b) Natural Causes: Natural events such as earthquakes, soil compaction, glacial isostatic adjustment, erosion, sinkhole formation, and adding water to fine soils; (c) Infrastructural Load: High load exceeding load-carrying capacity of the underlying soil.

What are the reasons for Joshimath Crisis?

ANTHROPOGENIC

• Development Projects: Various development projects are being undertaken nearby the sinking region. These include NTPC’s 520 MW Tapovan-Vishnugad Hydro Power Project and widening of roads under the Char Dham Project. While NTPC has denied the role of the power project, earlier incidents related to the project indicate the possibility that the project may have a role to play in the current crisis. A tunnel being bore under the town of Auli (near Joshimath) had punctured an aquifer in 2009 leading to large-scale seepage and drying-up of water resources in nearby regions. Water has been seen pouring out from cracks in several locations in the present crisis. 6-km Helang-Marwari bypass (under Char Dham Project) may have weakened slopes and further destabilising the local topography. Studies are being undertaken, but experts have blamed these large-scale projects for the current crisis.
• Tourism: Joshimath has become overnight stopover for pilgrims and tourists visiting Badrinath, Shri Hemkund Sahib or Valley of Flowers. Skiing resort of Auli is located nearby. As such large number of hotels have come up in the town. The underlying soil may lack the load-carrying capacity of the ever-expanding infrastructure.
• Unplanned Urbanisation: Most of the buildings have been constructed without proper studies about the underlying soil.
• Water Withdrawal: Subsidence occurs when large amounts of groundwater are withdrawn from specific types of rocks, such as fine-grained sediments. The rock compacts because the water helps to keep the ground in place. When the water is removed, the rocks collapse in on themselves. Increased withdrawal of water due to rising population (tourism) may have contributed to sinking.
• Absence of Proper Drainage: It leads to landslides. The existence of soak pits, which allow water to slowly soak into the ground, is responsible for the creation of cavities between the soil and the boulders. This leads to water seepage and soil erosion.

NATURAL

• First, Joshimath is located in seismic zone V which is more prone to earthquakes besides gradual weathering and water percolation which reduce the cohesive strength of the rocks over time.
• Second, The Mishra Committee Report states that Joshimath is situated on a sand and stone deposit. A majority of the town has been constructed on the debris of landslides, leading to smooth and eroded rocks and loose soil on the surface. These slopes can be destabilised even by slight triggers. Hence such slopes are not suitable for a township.
• Third, The Mishra Committee Report has also pointed out that subsidence in Joshimath might have been triggered by the reactivation of a geographic fault where the Indian Plate has pushed under the Eurasian Plate along the Himalayas.
• Fourth, Undercutting by Alaknanda and Dhauliganga river currents is also contributing to landslides in the region.

What were the major recommendations of the Mishra Committee in the context of Joshimath Crisis?

• Joshimath has been sinking for a long time. The Union Government had appointed MC Mishra (Collector of Garhwal at that time) to find out the reasons for sinking. The 18-member Committee had submitted the report in 1976.
• The Report had pointed out several factors for sinking like location on ancient landslide, erosion of river banks by Dhauliganga and Alaknanda, increased construction activities, lack of proper drainage facilities (water seepage and soil erosion) etc.
• The Committee had given several recommendations:
• First, The most important preventive measure suggested was restriction on heavy construction in the region.
• Second, Construction should only begin after the soil’s weight-bearing capacity and site stability have been assessed. It’s also important not to dig too deep into slopes.
• Third, When repairing roads or building structures, it was recommended that the boulders not be removed by digging or blasting the hillsides. In landslide areas, stones and boulders should not be removed from the bottom of the hill because this would remove toe support, increasing the likelihood of landslides.
• Fourth, It is necessary to fill in any cracks that have appeared on the slopes.
• Fifth, It has also recommended that extensive plantation work be done in the area, particularly between Marwari and Joshimath, to conserve soil and water resources, and has cautioned against cutting trees in the landslide zone.
• Sixth, there should be strict regulations on tree cutting for the township’s timber and firewood needs, and that the locals would be required to have access to alternative fuels.
• Seventh, It is imperative that slopes not be used for agricultural purposes.
• Eighth, Water seepage is abundant in the area. To prevent future landslides, open rain water seepage must be stopped through the construction of a pucca drainage system. Water should not be allowed to accumulate in any depression; instead, drains should be built to transport it to safe areas.
• Ninth, Roads should be metalled and free of scuppers, which drain water from the road surface.
• Tenth, Cement blocks should be positioned in areas of the river bank that are susceptible to erosion in order to stop the bank from eroding.
• Eleventh, In order to prevent erosion and train rivers, measures should be taken, and the hanging boulders at foothills should be given the appropriate support they need. (River training is the construction of structures to direct the flow of a river).

What steps have been taken to address the Joshimath Crisis?

• First, the Government has halted all construction activities in the region.
• Second, An expert panel consisting of 8 people has made the recommendation that homes in the area that sustained the most damage be demolished, that areas that have become inhabitable be identified, and that people be moved to safer areas as a matter of priority. The Government has already declared certain buildings as unfit for inhabitation. People are being relocated. Interim compensation has been provided to the affected families.
• Third, controlled demolition of most vulnerable buildings is being undertaken.
• Fourth, A group of specialists from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), the Geological Survey of India (GSI), the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR), the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, the National Institute of Hydrology, and the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI) will investigate the situation and offer their recommendations.

What should be the approach going ahead?

• First, There is need to balance development needs of the region with the protection of the environment. Development is necessary but not at the cost of local environment or population. Ensuring sustainability should be the top priority.
• Second, The natural assets of the Himalayas, such as biodiversity, local ecology and environmental balance should be at the centre of any development plan for the area.
• Third, Instead of focusing on massive dam construction, attention should be given to smaller projects that can help meet the energy needs of the community.
• Fourth, Taking precautions to protect people’s well-being ought to be the top priority right now. The State government ought to set up a communication channel that is both transparent and continuous with the individuals who have been impacted.
• Fifth, Mishra Committee Recommendations should be implemented for all development projects. No activity should be undertaken on unstable slopes unless structural stability can be ensured.

Conclusion

• The Joshimath Crisis brings out harmful impacts of uncontrolled development in geologically unstable and environmentally sensitive region. The multiple crisis in the region (Kedarnath 2013, Chamoli 2021) necessitate a relook at the present development model. An immediate adjustment is imperative that puts sustainability as the top priority. Otherwise, such crisis will become more frequent and disastrous.

General Studies Paper 3

In News

• The RBI launched a limited test of the retail digital rupee for specific use cases on November 1, 2022.

Key Points

• The pilot Project covers select locations in a closed user group (CUG) comprising about 15,000 customers and merchants across the country.
• The pilot will later be extended to Ahmedabad, Gangtok, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Kochi, Lucknow, Patna and Shimla.
• Four more Banks will be included soon:

• Bank of Baroda,
• Union Bank of India,
• HDFC Bank and
• Kotak Mahindra Bank

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

• It is the legal tender issued by a central bank in a digital form.
• It is the same as a fiat currency and is exchangeable one-to-one with the fiat currency. Only its form is different.
• It will be an electronic version of cash.
• It will be primarily meant for retail transactions. 
• It will be potentially available for use by all which includes the private sector, non-financial consumers and businesses.
• It will be able to provide access to safe money for payment and settlement.
• It will be the direct liability of the central bank.

How will the retail digital rupee work?

• It will be issued in the same denominations as paper currency and coins and will be distributed through banks.
• Users will be able to transact through a digital wallet which would be stored on mobile phones and devices.
• Transactions can be both:

• Person to person (P2P)
• Person to merchant (P2M).

• Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations.
• It will not earn any interest and can be converted to other forms of money like deposits with banks.
• RBI has demarcated the digital rupee into two broad categories:

• General purpose (retail)
• Wholesale

• The RBI has already launched the digital rupee for the wholesale segment to settle secondary market transactions in government securities.
• Wholesale CBDC is designed for restricted access to select financial institutions.
• It has the potential to transform the settlement systems for financial transactions undertaken by banks in the government securities (G-Sec) segment, inter-bank market and capital market more efficiently and securely in terms of operational costs, use of collateral and liquidity management.

Significance 

• It aims at reduction in operational costs involved in physical cash management, fostering financial inclusion, bringing resilience, efficiency and innovation in the payments system.
• It will add efficiency to the settlement system and boost innovation in cross-border payments space.
• It will provide the public with the uses that any private virtual currencies can provide without any associated risks.
• It will curb issues such as money laundering, terror financing, tax evasion, etc.
• E-rupee transactions can be both person to person (P2P) and person to merchant (P2M).

• For P2M transactions, such as shopping, there will be QR codes at the location.
• Users will be able to withdraw digital tokens from banks in the same way they currently withdraw physical cash.
• Users will be able to keep the digital tokens in the digital wallet, and spend them online or in person, or transfer them via an app.

Challenges

• Lack of Consumer Protection:No Dispute Settlement Mechanisms and control of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
• Digital Illiteracy:The population of India is currently not equipped to deal with cryptos.
• Security Risks:Cyberattacks on wallets, exchange mechanism (Crypto jacking).
• Shield to Crime: If not regulated and monitored properly, it can be used for illicit trading, criminal activities, & organised crimes.
• Popularity of Cryptocurrencies:RBI has repeatedly flagged concerns over money laundering, terror financing, tax evasion, etc with private cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ether, etc.
• Low volume: The volume of transactions seems to be low in the test phase, vendors now have another option to accept payment from customers, apart from cash and the unified payment interface (UPI).
• Preferences of Consumers: If there is a delay in a transaction or if it fails, customers prefer paying using other digital payment modes, which are currently faster.

Way Ahead

• E-rupee should be issued in the same denominations as paper currency and coins.
• Different features and applications of the e-rupee token and architecture should be created to enable and ease its usage and transition to e-Rupee.

General Studies Paper 3

In News

• A recent scientific assessment has suggested that the ozone hole is now expected to be completely repaired by 2066.

Key Findings

• Recovery period: 

• The ozone layer over Antarctica, where the hole is the most prominent, will take a long time to heal completely.
• If current policies continued to be implemented, the ozone layer was expected to recover to 1980 values by 2066 over Antarctica, by 2045 over the Arctic, and by 2040 for the rest of the world.
• Over the rest of the world, the ozone layer is expected to be back to where it was in 1980 by 2040 itself.

• How it became possible: 

• Successful elimination of some harmful industrial chemicals, together referred to as Ozone Depleting Substances or ODSs.
• Implementation of the 1989 Montreal Protocol.

• Nearly 99 per cent of the substances banned by the Montreal Protocol have now been eliminated from use, resulting in a slow but definite recovery of the ozone layer.

• Ozone: 

• Ozone (chemically, a molecule having three Oxygen atoms, or O3) is found mainly in the upper atmosphere, an area called stratosphere, between 10 and 50 km from the Earth’s surface.
• It is critical for planetary life, since it absorbs ultraviolet rays coming from the Sun.
• UV rays are known to cause skin cancer and many other diseases and deformities in plants and animals.

Damage to the ozone layer

• Origin: 

• The depletion of the ozone layer, first noticed in the early 1980s, used to be the biggest environmental threat before climate change came along.

• Hole or just reduction?

• Though the problem is commonly referred to as the emergence of a ‘hole’ in the ozone layer, it is actually just a reduction in concentration of the ozone molecules.
• Even in the normal state, ozone is present in extremely low concentrations in the stratosphere. Where the ‘layer’ is supposed to be the thickest, there are no more than a few molecules of ozone for every million air molecules.

• Sharp reductions in concentrations of Ozone:

• In the 1980s, scientists began to notice a sharp drop in its presence.
• This drop was much more pronounced over the South Pole.
• It was later linked to the unique meteorological conditions that prevail over Antarctica:

• Temperature,
• Pressure,
• Wind speed and
• Direction

• Biggest hole during months: 

• The ozone hole over Antarctica is the biggest during the months of September, October, and November.

• Main cause deciphered:

• The use of a class of industrial chemicals that contained chlorine, bromine or fluorine.
• The most common of these were the chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, that were used extensively in the air conditioning, refrigeration, paints, and furniture industries.

• Montreal Protocol: 

• It was with this climate change objective in mind that the Montreal Protocol was amended in 2016 to extend its mandate over hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, that have replaced the CFCs in industrial use.
• HFCs do not cause much damage to the ozone layer — the reason they were not originally banned — but are very powerful greenhouse gases.

• Kigali Amendment:

• The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol seeks to eliminate 80-90 per cent of the HFCs currently in use by the year 2050.
• This is expected to prevent another 0.3 to 0.5 degree Celsius of global warming by the turn of the century.

Timeline 

• Before 1979: 

• Scientists had not observed atmospheric ozone concentrations below 220 Dobson Units (DU; measure of the total amount of ozone in a vertical column of air above the Earth’s surface).

• 1980s and after:

• In the early 1980s, scientists using ground-based and satellite measurements began to realise that the Earth’s natural sunscreen was thinning dramatically over the South Pole each spring.
• This thinning of the ozone layer over Antarctica came to be known as the ozone hole.

• In 1979, the maximum depth of the hole was 194 Dobson Units (DU). In 1982, it fell to 173 DU, in 1983 to 154 DU, and in 1985 to 124 DU.
• The image below has been picked from a series published by NASA showing the size and shape of the ozone hole every year from 1979 through 2019.
• Red and yellow areas in the images indicate the ozone hole. The maps show the ozone hole on the day the lowest ozone concentrations were measured each year.
• In 1991, ozone concentration fell below 100 DU for the first time. The deepest hole was in 1994, when concentrations fell to 73 DU on Sept 30.

Significance

• It covers the entire planet and protects life on earth by absorbing harmful ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation from the sun.
• Impact on Plants

• Plants cannot live and grow in heavy ultraviolet radiation, nor can the planktons that serve as food for most of the ocean life.

• Health impact of UV-B rays

• With a weakening of the Ozone Layer shield, humans would be more susceptible to skin cancer, cataracts and impaired immune systems.

• Without it, life may have been impossible on earth due to harmful UV-B rays.
• Ozone-Depleting Substances: 

• Their elimination has an important climate change co-benefit as they are powerful greenhouse gases.
• Several of them  are hundreds or even thousands of times more dangerous than carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas and the main driver of global warming.
• Global compliance to the Montreal Protocol ensures the avoidance of 0.5 to 1 degree Celsius of warming by 2050.
• That is if the use of CFCs and other similar chemicals had continued to grow the way it did before they were banned, the world would have been 0.5 to 1 degree Celsius warmer than it already is.

Concerns

• Replacements available: 

• The use of ODSs, though extensive, was restricted to some specific industries.
• Their replacements were readily available, even if at a slightly higher cost initially.
• The impact of banning these ozone-depleting chemicals was therefore limited to these specific sectors.
• With some incentives, these sectors have recovered from the initial disruption and are thriving again.

• Carbon footprints: 

• Emission of carbon dioxide is inextricably linked to the harnessing of energy.
• Almost every economic activity leads to carbon dioxide emissions. Even renewable energies, like solar or wind, have considerable carbon footprints right now, because their manufacturing, transport, and operation involves the use of fossil fuels.

• Greenhouse gas emissions: 

• The emissions of methane, the other major greenhouse gas, comes mainly from agricultural practices and livestock.
• The impact of restraining greenhouse gas emissions is not limited to a few industries or economic sectors, but affects the entire economy, and also has implications for the quality of life, human lifestyles and habits and behaviours.

Way Ahead

• Ensuring that existing restrictions on ozone-depleting substances are properly implemented and global use of ozone-depleting substances continue to be reduced.
• Ensuring that banks of ozone-depleting substances (both in storage and contained in existing equipment) are dealt with in an environmentally-friendly manner and are replaced with climate-friendly alternatives.
• Ensuring that permitted uses of ozone-depleting substances are not diverted to illegal uses.
• Reducing use of ozone-depleting substances in applications that are not considered as consumption under the Montreal Protocol.
• Ensuring that no new chemicals or technologies emerge that could pose new threats to the ozone layer (e.g. very short-lived substances).

General Studies Paper 3

Context

• According to Solvent Extractor’s Association (SEA) of India, a sharp rise in the import of refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm oil is hurting the domestic oil refining industry.

Reasons for the rise in imports of RBD palm oil

• Import duty difference of only 7.5% between CPO (crude palm oil) and refined oil, encouraging the import of refined oil as compared to the CPO.
• Cutthroat competition: Malaysian and Indonesian exporters of RBD palm oil enjoy advantage (taxes) of $60 over CPO and hence they discount palmolein benefiting their refiners.

Consequences of the rise in imports of RBD palm oil

• Low capacity utilization(30% now versus 60-70% in 2020) of the Indian refining industry. For e.g. Utilization of only 18 million tonnes as against the capacity of 38-40 million tonnes.
• Losses:The refining industry will be suffering losses of Rs. 6000 per tonne on importing crude palm oil and converting it into refined palmolein.
• Contrary to the objective of self-reliance:PM’s clarion call of atma nirbhar and value addition within the country is threatened due to rising imports.
• Harm Make in India:Sustained import trends may cause transformation of the Indian refining industry into mere packers rather than producers and refiners.
• Compromising heavy investments made in the domestic refining sector for capacity enhancement and possibility of rising Non Performing Assets (NPAs) in the sector.
• Threaten oil seeds farmers: After a long time, domestic oilseeds have started selling above minimum support price (MSP) and improved farm incomes. Continued rising imports of RBD might reverse these gains.
• Edible oil inflation

About Palm Oil

• Nature:Palm oil is also known as palm fruit oil. Palm oil is produced from the fruit of the oil palm tree (Scientific name: Elaeis guineensis).

Importance: 

• Production:It may have now surpassed soybean oil as the most widely produced vegetable oil in the world.
• Refining: Palm oil is physically refined without the use of chemical solvents, thereby reducing the risk of residue contamination.
• Nutritional value: Virgin palm oil is rich in carotenoids (pro Vitamin A), tocotrienols and tocopherols (Vitamin E).
• Health benefits: Since it is a vegetable oil; not an animal or dairy product, therefore it does not contain cholesterol. It also does not contain trans fatty acids.
• Value as a natural resource: Oil palm is the only fruit that can give two types of oil-palm oil and palm kernel oil.

Applications/Usage:

• Agriculture and processing:Since its introduction, oil palm is now a leading agricultural crop. Increased planting, cultivation and refinement have led to the introduction of a wide range of processed palm oil products.
• Food and non-food applications: They can be used for frying media and for making margarines, shortenings, soap, oleo chemicals and other products.
• Cooking: It is used as cooking oil, to make margarine and is a component of many processed foods. Palm oil is one of the few vegetable oils relatively high in saturated fats (such as coconut oil) and thus semi-solid at room temperature.

Issues: 

• Palm oil is a major driver of deforestation of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests, destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the Orangutan, pygmy elephant and Sumatran rhino.
• More than 40 percent of potential landscapes for oil palm cultivation in India overlap with biodiversity-rich landscapes, especially in the North-East and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

National Mission on Edible Oils – Oil Palm (NMEO-OP)

• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a special focus on the Northeast region and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• The Mission hopes to increase oil palm acreage by an additional 6.5 lakh hectares by 2025-26 and grow production of crude palm oil to 11.2 lakh tonnes by 2025-26 and up to 28 lakh tonnes by 2029-30.
• The proposed scheme will subsume the current National Food Security Mission-Oil Palm programme.

2 major focus areas of the Scheme

• The oil palm farmers produce Fresh Fruit Bunches (FFBs) from which oil is extracted by the industry. Presently the prices of these FFBs are linked to the international Crude Palm Oil (CPO) prices fluctuations.
• Viability Price (VP): For the first time, the Government of India will give price assurance to the oil palm farmers for the FFBs in the form of the Viability Price (VP).

Way Forward

• Budgetary Provisions 2023-24: Increasing the duty difference between CPO and refined palmolein to at least 15%.
• Increasing refined duty from current 12.5% to 20% without any change in crude palm oil duty.
• Restricted List: The government can place again the import of RBD palmolein and refined palm oil under restricted list with immediate effect.