Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

• India’s push for electric vehicles (EVs) was renewed when phase-II of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid and) Electric (FAME) Vehicles scheme in India, with an outlay of ₹10,000 crore, was approved in 2019.
• India was doubling down on its EV ambitions, focusing on cultivating demand for EVs at home while also developing its own indigenous EV manufacturing industry which could cater to this demand.

FAME II

• Aims to boost electric mobility and increase the number of electric vehicles in commercial fleets
• Initially envisioned for three years, FAME-II got a two-year extension in June 2021 owing to a number of factors including the pandemic.
• It aims to support 10 lakh e-two-wheelers, 5 lakh e-three-wheelers, 55,000 e-four-wheeler passenger cars and 7,000 e-buses.
• As a part of FAME-II, the government has made a push for indigenous manufacturing of EVs
• While e-two-wheelers and e-four-wheelers receive significant coverage, a three-wheeled underdog has been quietly dominating the Indian EV space.

The Dominance of e-3-wheelers

• Three-wheeler EVs like e-autos and e-rickshaws account for close to 65% of all EVs registered in India while two-wheeler EVs come at a second with over 30% of registrations and passenger four-wheeler EVs at a meagre 2.5%
• Under the targets for FAME-II, e-three-wheelers have crossed over 4 lakh vehicles of the 5-lakh target since 2019.
• At the current rate, e-three-wheelers are expected to breach the 5-lakh target by 2023

Factors responsible for success of e-3-wheelers

• The EV registrations data show that Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal account for close to 80% of all e-three-wheeler registrations
• Of these five States, Assam, Delhi, U.P., and West Bengal have formalised EV policies
• Indigenously designed and produced, e-three-wheelers like e-rickshaws have become a common sight in these States
• These vehicles are produced by local workshops and small enterprises and have come to dominate the e-three-wheeler market
• With financial assistance from FAME-II, local manufacturers have built a truly Indian EV with its unique design catering to Indian commuter needs.
• Legacy automakers have been struggling to compete with these local producers.
• The focus of the EV policies of these five States is on accelerating adoption of EVs among consumers and promoting local manufacturing.
• The success India has experienced in the e-three-wheeler space has come from developing both the demand and supply sides. Subsidies, tax exemptions, and interest-free loans have successfully rallied demand for these vehicles.
• These vehicles are easy to maintain, and have relatively low operating costs, making them immensely popular among operators

E-2-wheelers and e-4-wheelers

• This success in the e-three-wheeler space has been difficult to replicate in the e-two-wheeler and e-four-wheeler space, which have problems both on the demand and supply side
• Both the types are associated with personal use, consumers are justifiably apprehensive in adopting such vehicles given the host of issues which come with it.
• The recent incidents of fires in e-scooters have added to the apprehension.
• Reliable manufacturers with proven track records in the two-wheeler and four-wheeler EV space in India are hard to come by – this adds to the supply side crunch and there are very few affordable offerings for the consumer.

Issues to be addressed

• The current policies focuses on accelerating adoption of EVs among consumers, have spurred an e-three-wheeler dominance
• The major aspect that is missing the attention of policy makers is adequate passenger safety
• Local manufacturing enterprises often lack the necessary resources or the motivation to invest in design developments focusing on safety.
• Lack of proper oversight from regulatory bodies over these manufacturers adds to the woes.
• The current State-level policies have led to an increasingly fragmented manufacturing industry with non-uniform standards – This fragmentation has led to legacy automakers struggling to compete with the large number of manufacturers in every State

Way Forward

• Future EV policies must incorporate appropriate design and passenger safety standards
• EV policies must address the issues faced by legacy automakers and ensure they are not demotivated from competing in the e-three-wheeler space. Their resources are necessary for designing and manufacturing more advanced and safer e-three-wheelers

Future EV policies must therefore take into account the existing and emerging stakeholders on the demand and supply sides for effective implementation. With the prevailing trajectory of EVs, India must take lessons from its e-three-wheeler success story to sustain its EV ambitions.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Ministry of Defence signed a contract with the Hyderabad-based public-sector Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) for supply of the Astra Mark-1, at a cost of Rs 2,971 crore, for deployment on fighter jets of the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.

Astra Mk-1

• The Astra Mk-1 is a beyond visual range (BVR), air-to-air missile (AAM).
• Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) technology enables the fighter-pilots to shoot precisely at the enemy targets which are beyond their visual range
• AAMs are fired from an airborne asset to destroy an airborne target
• The missile has been designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for deployment on fighter jets like Sukhoi-30 MKI and Tejas of the IAF and the Mig-29K of the Navy
• Range: While the range for Astra Mk-1 is around 110 km, the Mk-2 with a range over 150 km is under development
• Speed: The missile can travel at speeds more than four times that of sound and can reach a maximum altitude of 20 km, making it extremely flexible for air combat.

Strategic Significance

• The missile has been designed based on requirements specified by the IAF for BVR as well as close-combat engagement, reducing the dependency on foreign sources.
• AAMs with BVR capability provides large stand-off ranges to own fighter aircraft.
• Stand-off range means the missile is launched at a distance sufficient to allow the attacking side to evade defensive fire from the target.
• It can neutralise adversary airborne assets without exposing adversary air defence measures.
• Astra is technologically and economically superior to many such imported missile

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

UN Habitat has identified various pressing issues posing challenges for urban planners of Jaipur City.

Issues highlighted include:

• Rapid expansion of cities.
• Weak urban mobility.
• Extreme levels of drought during summer and also urban floods.

 Recommendations:

• Increase the green cover, strengthen urban biodiversity, and thereby enhance the quality of life for citizens.
• Implement the idea of a compact city with re-development and re-densification of the existing urban areas.
• To curb development on the city’s outskirts, link the distance from the main city to the development charges imposed on citizens.
• Eco-trails with plantations along natural drainage channels and railway tracks are recommended in the city.
• The 800 dry wells in City could be used for rainwater harvesting and raising the water table, mitigating urban floods and ensuring efficient utilisation of water resources.

 About UN Habitat:

• The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN–Habitat) is the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development.
• It was established in 1978 as an outcome of the First UN Conference on Human Settlements and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat I) held in Vancouver, Canada in 1976.
• It is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.
• It is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
• UN-Habitat reports to the United Nations General Assembly.
• It has its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

Habitat Agenda:

• The mandate of UN-Habitat derives from the Habitat Agenda, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1996.
• The twin goals of the Habitat Agenda are adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

50% of rural households in India have now been covered under the Jal Jeevan Mission. At the time of launch of Jal Jeevan Mission in 2019, only 3.23 Crore households i.e. 17% of the rural population had access to drinking water through taps.

Performance of the scheme:

• Certain state and union territories such as Goa, Telangana, A&N Islands, D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu, Puducherry and Haryana have already achieved 100% household connections.
• Punjab, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Bihar have coverage of more than 90% and are progressing fast towards attaining the status of ‘Har Ghar Jal (water in every household)’.

About the Jal Jeevan Mission: 

JJM envisages supply of 55 litres of water per person per day to every rural household through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTC) by 2024. It is under the Ministry of Jal Shakti. It was launched in 2019.

The mission ensures:

• Functionality of existing water supply systems and water connections.
• Water quality monitoring and testing as well as sustainable agriculture.
• Conjunctive use of conserved water.
• Drinking water source augmentation.
• Drinking water supply system, grey water treatment and its reuse.

It also encompasses:

• Prioritizing provision of FHTCs in quality affected areas, villages in drought prone and desert areas, Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) villages, etc.
• Providing functional tap connection to Schools, Anganwadi centres, Gram Panchayat buildings, Health centres, wellness centres and community buildings.
• Technological interventions for removal of contaminants where water quality is an issue.

Implementation:

• The Mission is based on a community approach to water and includes extensive Information, Education and Communication as a key component of the mission.
• JJM looks to create a jan andolan for water, thereby making it everyone’s priority.
• The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and states is 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States, 50:50 for other states, and 100% for Union Territories.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

India and Pakistan have begun another round of the Permanent Indus Commission  meeting that is held annually under Indus Water Treaty (IWT) 1960.

• The Indus talks have survived the freeze in ties as both countries see it as mandatory under the IWT.
• Under the provisions of the treaty, the two sides are required to meet at least once every year, alternately in India and Pakistan.
• The last meeting, held on March 23-24, 2021 in New Delhi.

About Indus Water Treaty 

• It is a Water-Distribution Treaty, signed in Karachi on 1960, between India (Pm Jawahar Lal Nehru) and Pakistan (President Ayub Khan), brokered by the World Bank.

How is the Indus water share between India and Pakistan?

• Under the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty, signed between India and Pakistan in 1960, all the waters of the eastern rivers — the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi — amounting to around 33 MAF (million acre-feet) annually is allocated to India for unrestricted use.
• The waters of western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — amounting to around 135 MAF annually are largely for Pakistan.

The right to generate hydroelectricity:

Under the Treaty, India has been given the right to generate hydroelectricity through a run of the river projects on the western rivers subject to specific criteria for design and operation.

• It also gives the right to Pakistan to raise concerns on the design of Indian hydroelectric projects on western rivers.

Permanent Indus Commission: 

• The Permanent Indus Commission is a bilateral commission of officials from India and Pakistan, created to implement and manage goals of the Indus Waters Treaty, 1960.
• The Commission according to the treaty must meet regularly at least once a year, alternately in India and Pakistan.

The functions of the Commission are:

• To study and report to the two Governments on any problem relating to the development on the waters of the rivers.
• To solve disputes arising over water sharing.
• To arrange technical visits to projects’ sites and critical river head works.
• To undertake, once in every five years, a general tour of inspection of the Rivers for ascertaining the facts.
• To take necessary steps for the implementation of the provisions of the treaty.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

India will release cheetahs from South Africa and Namibia into the wild at Kuno Palpur in Sheopur district of Madhya Pradesh, possibly by the end of this year.

• To begin with, there will be 12 cheetahs from South Africa and eight from Namibia. More would follow in subsequent years.

Cheetah Reintroduction Project

The project to translocate cheetahs from Africa to India is being implemented by the environment ministry with the help of the Wildlife Institute of India.

• The Supreme Court had appointed an expert panel, which approved Kuno Palpur as the possible location for cheetah relocation.

What is reintroduction and why reintroduce Cheetah now?

• ‘Reintroduction’ of a species means releasing it in an area where it is capable of surviving.
• Reintroduction of large carnivores have increasingly been recognised as a strategy to conserve threatened species and restore ecosystem functions.
• The cheetah is the only large carnivore that has been extirpated, mainly by over-hunting in India in historical times.
• India now has the economic ability to consider restoring its lost natural heritage for ethical as well as ecological reasons.

About Cheetah

• The cheetah, Acinonyx Jubatus, is one of the oldest of the big cat species, with ancestors that can be traced back more than five million years to the Miocene era.
• The cheetah is also the world’s fastest land mammal.
• African Cheetah is listed as vulnerable in IUCN red listed species.
• The country’s last spotted feline died in Chhattisgarh in 1947. Later, the cheetah — which is the fastest land animal — was declared extinct in India in 1952.
• The Asiatic cheetah is classified as a “critically endangered” species by the IUCN Red List, and is believed to survive only in Iran.

Reasons for extinction:

• The reasons for extinction can all be traced to man’s interference. Problems like human-wildlife conflict, loss of habitat and loss of prey, and illegal trafficking, have decimated their numbers.
• The advent of climate change and growing human populations have only made these problems worse.
• With less available land for wildlife, species that require vast home range like the cheetah are placed in competition with other animals and humans, all fighting over less space.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

• The West Nile Virus is a mosquito-borne, single-stranded RNA virus
• It is a member of the flavivirus genus and belongs to the Japanese encephalitis antigenic complex of the family Flaviviridae.
• WNV is commonly found in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, North America and West Asia

Detection of WNV:

• WNV was first isolated in a woman in the West Nile district of Uganda in 1937.
• It was identified in birds in the Nile delta region in 1953. Before 1997, WNV was not considered pathogenic for birds.
• WNV outbreak sites are found along major bird migratory routes.
• Human infections attributable to WNV have been reported in many countries for over 50 years.

Transmission:

• WNV is an infectious disease spread by infected mosquitoes.
• It spreads from birds to humans with the bite of an infected Culex mosquito. It can lead to a fatal neurological disease in humans.
• Mosquitoes become infected when they feed on infected birds, which circulate the virus in their blood for a few days. The virus eventually gets into the mosquito’s salivary glands. During later blood meals (when mosquitoes bite), the virus may be injected into humans and animals, where it can multiply and possibly cause illness
• WNV can also spread through blood transfusion, from an infected mother to her child, or through exposure to the virus in laboratories.
• To date, no human-to-human transmission of WNV through casual contact has been documented

Symptoms:

• The disease is asymptomatic in 80% of the infected people
• The symptoms include a fever, headache, body aches, skin rash, and swollen lymph glands. They can last a few days to several weeks, and usually go away on their own.
• If West Nile virus enters the brain, it can be life-threatening.
• It may cause inflammation of the brain, called encephalitis, or inflammation of the tissue that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, called meningitis.

Treatment:

• There are no specific vaccines or treatments for human WNV disease.
• The best way to avoid WNV is to prevent mosquito bites.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

A group of non-governmental organisations has written to Prime Minister urging him to “proactively engage” with a draught proposal at the World Trade Organization-TRIPS in Geneva to waive intellectual property rights governing COVID vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics, which are mostly controlled by companies in the West.

What’s the issue?

In October 2020, at the WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, India and South Africa proposed that the WTO do away with certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement for the duration of the pandemic to facilitate access to technologies necessary for the production of vaccines and medicines. 

Challenges Ahead

A small group of WTO members are “discussing suggestions” to exclude drug manufacturers in India and China — two major, global suppliers of medicine — from prospective waivers to IPR obligations that result from the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which WTO members are committed to uphold.

• Also, Manufacturers want to “limit” any benefits of the waiver only to African countries, and not pave the way for Indian manufacturers who, with their large production capacities, would easily undercut Western competitors.

Why is there an opposition to the waiver? What are the arguments against it?

Waiving of intellectual property rights will neither lead to increased production of vaccines or increased deployment nor practical solutions to fight the virus of COVID-19 vaccines since IP is not the barrier.

Waiving of intellectual property rights could also impact patient safety by opening doors for counterfeit vaccines to enter the supply chain.

Need of the hour:

Our top most priority should be to address the supply side constraints, including IP barriers, to augment the manufacturing of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, essential for treatment, prevention and control of the ongoing pandemic.

What does the intellectual property waiver for Covid-19 vaccines mean?

The IP waiver might open up space for production of Covid vaccines with emergency use authorisations (EUA) — such as those developed by Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Novavax, Johnson & Johnson and Bharat Biotech — on a larger scale in middle-income countries.

• Most production is currently concentrated in high-income countries; production by middle-income countries has been happening through licensing or technology transfer agreements.

What are patents and IP rights?

A patent represents a powerful intellectual property right, and is an exclusive monopoly granted by a government to an inventor for a limited, pre-specified time. It provides an enforceable legal right to prevent others from copying the invention.

Patents can be either process patents or product patents:

1. A product patent ensures that the rights to the final product is protected, and anyone other than the patent holder can be restrained from manufacturing it during a specified period, even if they were to use a different process.
2. A process patent enables any person other than the patent holder to manufacture the patented product by modifying certain processes in the manufacturing exercise.

Patent regime in India:

India moved from product patenting to process patenting in the 1970s, which enabled India to become a significant producer of generic drugs at global scale, and allowed companies like Cipla to provide Africa with anti-HIV drugs in the 1990s.

• But due to obligations arising out of the TRIPS Agreement, India had to amend the Patents Act in 2005, and switch to a product patents regime across the pharma, chemicals, and biotech sectors.

What is the TRIPS Agreement?

The TRIPS agreement was negotiated in 1995 at the WTO, it requires all its signatory countries to enact domestic law.

• It guarantees minimum standards of IP protection. Such legal consistency enables innovators to monetise their intellectual property in multiple countries.
• In 2001, the WTO signed the Doha Declaration, which clarified that in a public health emergency, governments could compel companies to license their patents to manufacturers, even if they did not think the offered price was acceptable.
• This provision, commonly referred to as “compulsory licensing”, was already built into the TRIPS Agreement and the Doha declaration only clarified its usage.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

At the recent Quad Summit held at Tokyo, Prime Minister of India carried with him gifts for leaders of the US, Australia and Japan showcasing India’s rich cultural heritage and art forms.

Sanjhi Art form:

Sanjhi panel gifted to US President Joe Biden is based on the theme of Thakurani Ghat (It is one of the most famous ghats on the banks of the holy river of Yamuna in Gokul).

• This art form originated out of the cult of Krishna.
• It involves creating stencils based on incidents from the life of the deity and then hand-cutting these on thin sheets of paper using scissors.
• Sanjhi was popularised in the 15th and 16th centuries by the Vaishnava temples and was practiced by Brahmin priests.

Gond art painting for Australian PM Anthony Albanese:

The gift depicts a popular motif in Gond art — the Tree of Life, with intricate patterns and lines that are a trademark of Gond art. Gond art is practised by the Gond community in Madhya Pradesh.

• It is often traced to Jangarh Shyam, who in the 1970s and ’80s began drawing the largely oral myths and legends of the tribe onto the walls of homes in the village of Patangarh.

Rogan painting:

Prime Minister of India gifted the Japanese PM a hand-carved deep brown wooden box with a gold and white Rogan painting on a green cloth as its central motif.

Rogan is a form of cloth painting that is considered to be more than four centuries old and is primarily practised in Kutch district of Gujarat.

• The word ‘Rogan’ comes from Persian, meaning varnish or oil.
• The craft uses paint made from boiled oil and vegetable dyes.
• Usually, only half the fabric is painted and it is folded to create a mirror image.
• Originally only men used to practice the art form. Now several women in Gujarat also pursue it.