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Showing posts with label the hindu notes. Show all posts

Sunday, November 06, 2022

The HINDU Notes – 05th November 2022

19:54

 


📰 All employees can opt for EPFO pension scheme: SC

The court uses its extraordinary powers under Article 142 to allow eligible members who had not opted for enhanced pension coverage prior to the 2014 amendments to do so in four months

•The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the Employees’ Pension (Amendment) Scheme, 2014 of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organistion as “legal and valid” while reading down certain provisions.

•Most important, the court used its extraordinary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to allow eligible employees who had not opted for enhanced pension coverage prior to the 2014 amendments, to jointly do so with their employers within the next four months.

•The court struck down a requirement in the 2014 amendments that employees who go beyond the salary threshold (of ₹15,000 per month) should contribute monthly to the pension scheme at the rate of 1.16% of their salary.

•The requirement to contribute 1.16% of the salary to the extent that such salary exceeds ₹15,000 per month as an additional contribution made under the amendment scheme is held to be ultra vires to the provisions of the Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice U.U. Lalit held.

•The court suspended the implementation of this part for six months.

📰 The real issue at COP27 is energy equity

•In a starkly unequal world, what does the urgency of climate action imply? This has been a central question in the climate change negotiations since the Rio Earth Summit (1992) and will also be at the root of contestations at the upcoming 27th Conference of Parties (COP27, beginning November 6, in Egypt) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

•In the run-up to COP26, last year in Glasgow, several developed countries had declared their intention to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. These declarations did not square with the requirements of “keeping 1.5 deg. C alive”. Four-fifths of the global carbon budget to limit warming to 1.5°C (with 50% probability) has already been exhausted. Developed countries are responsible for more than half of these historical CO2 emissions. Nevertheless, there was much celebration of these targets. There was also high drama at COP26, with moral grandstanding by many developed country negotiators who invoked the future of their children, because India and other countries understandably balked at the singling out of any one fossil fuel for immediate action.

•It is important to recall some of these shenanigans at COP26, as in the last year, it has become clear that developed countries may be unlikely to meet even the inadequate targets they have set, keeping to the trend of the last three decades. The rhetoric of COP26 appears unconscionably hypocritical if we consider the reality of global energy inequalities.

Global energy inequality

•Global energy poverty is concentrated in the developing countries. In 2021, 733 million people had no access to electricity and almost 2.6 billion people lacked access to clean fuels and technologies. The average per capita energy use of the richest 20 countries is 85 times higher than that of the 20 poorest countries.

•Addressing this stark energy poverty in developing countries is important because there is a strong correlation between energy supply and human development. The average annual per capita electricity consumption of sub-Saharan Africa is 487 kilowatt-hours (kWh), alongside an infant mortality rate of 73 per 1,000 live births; maternal mortality ratio of 534 per 1,00,000 live births, and per capita GDP of $1,645. On the other hand, the OECD group of countries have a per capita electricity consumption of 7,750 kWh, corresponding to an infant mortality rate of seven, maternal mortality ratio of 18, and per capita GDP of $42,098.

•The reality of global inequality was acutely evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America are facing severe agricultural and industrial slowdowns in the post-pandemic period. The lack of reliable energy infrastructure has compounded the difficulties and has multi-dimensional impacts across developmental indicators.

•In 2022, these inequalities have been aggravated by soaring energy and food prices. Several countries face a severe rise in the cost of living and nearly 70 million additional people are estimated to fall below the poverty line of $3.20 per person per day. Poor and vulnerable communities in the energy-importing countries of the global South suffer the most. Almost 90 million people in Asia and Africa, who gained access to electricity recently, cannot afford to pay their energy bills. In this background, COP27 affords a critical moment to acknowledge and address the concerns surrounding energy access and security in developing countries. Unfortunately, these long-standing problems of the global South have been ignored by developed country governments, academia, and civil society. At a time when the language of energy poverty and security is re-entering the northern vocabulary, it is time to call out the hypocrisy of the advice on fossil fuel use given by the north to some of the world’s poorest regions since the Paris Agreement was signed.

Hypocrisy of the global North

•In the United States, 81% of primary energy is from fossil fuels. In Europe, fossil fuels constitute 76% of the energy consumption (coal, oil, and natural gas contribute 11%, 31%, and 34% respectively). Thirty years after acknowledging the problem of anthropogenic global warming and committing in the UNFCCC, to take the lead in climate change mitigation, the level of decarbonisation in the global North has been minuscule. In July 2022, the European Union (EU) voted to classify the use of natural gas for some uses as “green and sustainable”. Natural gas was responsible for 7.5 billion tonnes of CO2 (i.e., 23% of the total CO2 by the major fossil fuels), in 2020. Additionally, in 2022, even coal consumption in the U.S. and the EU is estimated to increase by 3% and 7%, respectively.

•These same developed countries argue that green energy constitutes a great business opportunity for developing countries as it has become cheaper. They have used this dubious argument to dismiss differentiation between developed and developing countries and are lobbying for banning the financing of any fossil fuel projects in some of the poorest countries.

•Bridging the energy deficits in the global South using renewable energy alone is a much bigger challenge compared to what developed countries will face this winter. Spokespersons for urgent climate action across the world must acknowledge this stark reality that the global South has to deal with, whether in times of war or peace.

A base camp for equitable priorities

•At COP27, the global South must put the question of its energy poverty and the severe global inequalities in energy access squarely at the centre of all discussions. We need to achieve zero hunger, zero malnutrition, zero poverty, and universal well-being even as we collectively contribute to ensuring effective climate action. As the strapline for COP27 (“Together for Implementation”) suggests, we must work together to ensure that these developmental goals are not side-lined, as they were at COP26, in the pursuit of hollow declarations of net-zero targets three decades into the future. A developing country leadership at COP27 can ensure effective discussions, based on equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, on the relative responsibilities and sharing of mitigation and adaptation burdens while coping with loss and damage.

📰 Centre, employees for detailed study of EPFO case verdict

•The Union Labour Ministry, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and organisations of employees and employers are studying the Supreme Court order on Friday upholding the validity of the Employees Pension (Amendment) Scheme of 2014.

•Sources in the Labour Ministry said it would come up with detailed guidelines for the employees and employers on implementing the verdict.

•A.K. Padmanabhan, workers’ representative on the EPFO Board of Trustees, told The Hindu that the Supreme Court had upheld the verdict in the case of RC Gupta vs EPFO.

•“Maybe, there are some points which need to be clarified. We have been maintaining that what EPFO has done to a section of workers was an injustice. We will study the judgment before making a detailed comment. Many of our unions have gone to the court demanding clarification on this issue,” Mr. Padmanabhan said.

‘Incomplete verdict’

•BMS national secretary V. Radhakrishnan said the apex court had not taken a decision on a number of issues that were connected with the minimum pension.

•“This verdict is incomplete. Certain aspects in the verdict such as approving the EPFO’s argument that the average of last 60 months’ salary should be considered for calculating the pension are not good for the workers. But the verdict clearly declined to accept the EPFO’s argument that the worker will have to remit the Union government’s component of 1.16%. This is a welcome step. Our view is that this verdict needs more clarity from the court,” he said.

•K.E. Raghunathan, another member of the board representing employers, said the judgment needed to be studied in detail on its deliverables from each stakeholder such as the EPFO, employers and employees for a detailed remark.

📰 Remote voting
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Friday, November 04, 2022

The HINDU Notes – 04th November 2022

17:49

 


📰 Going beyond Amur falcons: Nagaland to celebrate avian diversity, undertake census

•Nagaland is undertaking the first avian documentation exercise going beyond the Amur falcons, the migratory raptor that put the State on the world birding map.

•The four-day Tokhü Emong Bird Count (TEBC) from Friday has been timed with the post-harvest Tokhü Emong festival of the Lothas, the Naga community that dominates Wokha district, arguably the most preferred stopover of the Amur falcons while travelling from east Asia to southern Africa.

•The event is a collaboration among the Wokha Forest Division, the Divisional Management Unit of the Nagaland Forest Management Project (NFMP) and Bird Count India.

•“Amur falcons put Nagaland on the world birding map. However, the communities here can do more than just Amur falcon conservation. This event is organised to make each one of us feel proud of the birdlife and nature that we have,” Chenibemo Odyuo of NFMP’s Foundation for Ecological Security, based in Phek, said.

•“Nagaland is a State with diverse festivals and diverse birdlife. The TEBC is the first of initiatives where the community is encouraged to celebrate the festival with birds,” Lansothung Lotha, Range Forest Officer of the Wokha Forest Division said.

•“We expect more such festivals in the future where people connect with nature and also help in documenting the rich avifauna in a landscape that still remains to be explored and documented,” he added.

•Pia Sethi of the Centre for Ecology, Development and Research said initiatives such as the TEBC are particularly important for the northeast, where rich bird diversity is threatened by habitat loss and hunting.

•The exercise entails watching and counting birds on any or all days from November 4-7 from anywhere in Nagaland for at least 15 minutes and uploading the avian names on eBird (www.ebird.org/india), the bird recording platform.

📰 Decline in pre-primary enrolments continued in 2021-22, says govt. report

It shows 30% fewer students were admitted in these classes as compared to pre-pandemic period; numbers dwindled in primary classes too; total number of schools and teachers also saw a drop

•The number of children entering pre-primary classes in 2021-2022 saw a further decline, resulting in 30% fewer students in this school section as compared to pre-Covid as younger students with less access to remote learning continue to bear the biggest brunt of learning loss during the pandemic, according to a report released by the Ministry of Education.

•A total of 94.95 lakh students entered pre-primary classes in 2021-2022, registering a drop of 10% as compared to the previous year when 1.06 crore children enrolled in these classes. However, in 2020-2021, there was already a decline of 21% enrolment in pre-primary classes as compared to 1.35 crore the year before due to school closures and classrooms moving online, according to the Unified District Information System for Education Plus report on school education.

•Enrolment in primary classes, which include classes 1 to 5, also saw a drop for the first time, falling from 12.20 lakh in 2020-2021 to 12.18 lakh in 2021-2022. However, the total number of students from primary to higher secondary increased by 19 lakh to 25.57 crore.

•Also for the first time since the pandemic, the report records a decline in number of schools due to closures as well as a lack of teachers. There were 20,000 fewer schools in 2021-2022 as the total number of schools dropped from 15.09 lakh to 14.89 lakh.

•There were also 1.89 lakh or 1.98% fewer teachers as their number reduced from 96.96 lakh in 2020-2021 to 95.07 lakh in 2021-2022.

•Computer facilities were available in 44.75% of schools, while Internet access was available only in 33.9% of schools. However, their availability has improved as compared to pre-Covid when only 38.5% of schools had computers and 22.3% had Internet facilities.

📰 Vanuatu’s big plea does little to arrest climate change
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Thursday, November 03, 2022

The HINDU Notes – 03rd November 2022

13:06

 


📰 The new hybrid variant of mustard

How significant is the development of the Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11)? Why are some activist groups opposing the commercial release of the crop? What are their allegations? How many transgenic crops are commercially cultivated in India?

•The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s apex regulator of genetically modified plants and food products, has approved the environmental release of Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11), a genetically-engineered variant of mustard.

•Trials conducted over three years by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) suggest that DMH-11 has 28% higher yields than its parent Varuna and was 37% better than zonal checks, or local varieties that are considered the best in different agro-climatic zones.

•Activist groups allege that the GM mustard hasn’t been evaluated as a herbicide tolerant crop posing potential risks. They also allege that GM mustard plants may dissuade bees from pollinating the plant and this could have knock-off environmental catastrophes.

The story so far:

•The Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), India’s apex regulator of genetically modified plants and food products, has approved the environmental release of Dhara Mustard Hybrid-11 (DMH-11), a genetically-engineered variant of mustard. If approved for commercial cultivation it would be the first genetically modified food crop available to Indian farmers.

What is DMH-11?

•DMH-11 is a hybrid variant of mustard developed by researchers at The Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants, at the University of Delhi. Deepak Pental, who has led the efforts to develop hybrid mustard at the Centre for decades and was a former Vice-Chancellor of the University, began with DMH-1, a hybrid variant that was developed without transgenic technology. DMH-1 was approved for commercial release in northwest India in 2005-2006 but scientists have said that this technology wasn’t bankable enough to consistently produce hybrid mustard. While India has several mustard varieties, it is a self-pollinating plant and therefore a challenge for plant-breeders to cross different mustard varieties and induce desirable traits. Being able to turn off this self-pollinating trait to enable such crossings and then restoring the trait, to enable seed production, is how the mustard plant’s genes are to be manipulated. DMH-11 is a result of a cross between two varieties: Varuna and Early Heera-2. Such a cross wouldn’t have happened naturally and was done after introducing genes from two soil bacterium called barnase and barstar. Barnase in Varuna induces a temporary sterility because of which it can’t naturally self-pollinate. Barstar in Heera blocks the effect of barnase allowing seeds to be produced. The result is DMH-11 (where 11 refers to the number of generations after which desirable traits manifest) that not only has better yield but is also fertile. DMH-11 is a transgenic crop because it uses foreign genes from a different species.

Are hybrid mustard varieties better ?

•Trials conducted over three years by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) suggest that DMH-11 has 28% higher yields than its parent Varuna and was 37% better than zonal checks, or local varieties that are considered the best in different agro-climatic zones. These trials were conducted at eight locations over three years. DMH-11 rather than being an end in itself signals the proof of success of the barnase-barstar system that can act as a platform technology to develop newer hybrids. Scientists say that having better hybrids is necessary to meet India’s rising edible-oil import bill. Mustard (Brassica juncea) is cultivated in 6-7 million hectares during the Rabi winter season predominantly in Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. India imports anywhere from 55-60% of its domestic edible-oil requirement. In 2020-21, around 13.3 million tonnes of edible oil were imported at a cost of ₹1,17,000 crore according to the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. This is primarily due to low productivity — of about 1-1.3 tonnes/hectare — that has been stagnant for over two decades. On the other hand, hybrid mustard and rapeseed are the dominant form of oil seeds in Canada, China and Europe. So, proponents say, the only way to improve India’s productivity is to have more mustard hybrids.

Why is it controversial?

•There are two main reasons why transgenic mustards are a topic of debate. The use of genes that are foreign to the species is one and secondly, the preparation of mustard hybrids require the use of another gene, called the bar gene, that makes it tolerant to a herbicide called glufosinate-ammonium. Activist groups allege that the GM mustard hasn’t been evaluated as a herbicide tolerant crop posing potential risks. Finally, they allege, GM mustard plants may dissuade bees from pollinating the plant and this could have knock-off environmental catastrophes. Activist groups have also been supported by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh affiliate, who have consistently opposed GM crops.

What next for GM mustard?

•This isn’t the first time that the GEAC has cleared the environmental release of GM mustard. In 2017 too, the apex body had cleared it but the process got stalled after a case was lodged in the Supreme Court. The government, or specifically the Environment Ministry, hasn’t officially supported GM mustard despite the GEAC being a body under it. Bt Brinjal, the first transgenic food crop, too was cleared by the GEAC in 2009 but was put on hold by the then-UPA government on the grounds that more tests were needed. Currently the only transgenic crop grown in India is Bt-cotton. The GEAC go-ahead only allows DMH-11 to be grown in fields under the supervision of the ICAR. The Indian Agricultural Research Institute has said that the crop would be commercially available after “three seasons” now that they can be grown in large quantities for evaluation.

📰 We want to be India’s defence partner of choice: U.S. official

•“We want to be the partner of choice for India,” a senior U.S. defence official said on Wednesday while stating that America is the best partner when it comes to sharing high-end technology and next-generation equipment while India diversifies its military arsenal ending heavy dependence on Russia. To a question on the situation on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and conversation between India and the U.S., Rear Admiral Michael L. Baker, the U.S. Defence Attaché in India, said the two countries worked closely to exchange views and both could not take the eye off the ball on regional security issues.

•“India has the ability to choose its partners. It has made a conscious decision to diversify over the last decade. And it has made a conscious decision to partner with the U.S. on a host of areas. My focus is on how to take that forward,” he said in a conversation with a small group of journalists. There are some pretty challenges across sharing high-end technology and next-generation equipment, and the U.S. is the best partner in that, he said.

•To a question on the recent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test by INS Arihant, India’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, the Rear Admiral said, “A country is able to go through and test its lawful and sovereign capabilities in a responsible way. From what I can tell, India has done that in a responsible way.”

•On the continuing stand-off in eastern Ladakh and the situation along the LAC, he said it was certainly an important area for them and they remained watchful. “We work closely with India to exchange our views on this area to make sure that we have a clear understanding of what we think may be happening. I think it is a space both for India and the U.S. to remain watchful. We can’t take the eye off the ball of regional security issues.”

•There has been talk of India and the U.S. doing joint patrols in the past which was turned down by the Defence Ministry at that point. India has since carried out joint patrols with France. Asked if the time has come for joint patrols between India and the U.S., he said to one degree, they were conducting joint patrols, referring to the broad naval cooperation.

•India has ships inside the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF). Alongside the U.S., “we operate in the same operational space in the North Arabian Sea, in the Arabian Gulf”, he noted. “As India makes its deployments into the Pacific, it is almost continually operating with the U.S. forces. Whether we make some sort of formal deceleration is kind of a secondary question. Navies of the world are out there on the sea together. We can’t help but be in the space together... We operate together pretty routinely,” he said.

•On the efforts for co-development and co-production of military hardware, he said they had good meetings this year on the next steps of the the Defence Technology Trade Initiative (DTTI). “It is a focus area of our dialogue right now,” he said.

📰 India-U.K. FTA will tighten screws on generic drugs: MSF

•The proposals on intellectual property (IP) rights in the draft India-U.K. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will hurt the global supply of generic medicines, Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF) warned on Wednesday. In a press note, the international organisation said the intellectual property chapter of the India-U.K. FTA contains “harmful IP provisions”. The IP-related chapter, leaked on October 31, showed the controversial provisions tabled by the U.K. to “tighten the screws on producing, supplying and exporting affordable generic medicines from India”.

•“Given the disastrous consequences this leaked IP chapter could have on the global supply of generic medicines, the U.K. government should withdraw it completely,” Leena Menghaney, South Asia head of MSF’s Access Campaign, said.

•In a “Fact Sheet”, MSF has argued that the demand for “harmonisation” of Indian patent law with the U.K.’s laws will lead to dilution of important provisions in the Indian patent system necessary for manufacturing generics.

•“Article E.10 of the leaked IP chapter stipulates that both parties “shall not” make patent opposition proceedings available BEFORE the grant of a patent. In effect, this provision applies only to India as the U.K. does not have a pre-grant opposition system — this goes directly against the current Indian patent law, which allows patent opposition proceedings both before and after the grant of a patent,” the MSF.

•A U.K. government spokesperson said they would not comment on the “alleged leaks” and will sign “a deal that is fair, reciprocal, and ultimately in the best interests of the British people and the economy.”

📰 Curious collage shows rhino horns are shrinking
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Wednesday, November 02, 2022

The HINDU Notes – 02nd November 2022

13:11

 


📰 Invasive tree spreading in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

•An invasive species, Senna spectabilis, an exotic tree, has taken over between 800 hectares and 1,200 hectares of the buffer zones of the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the picturesque Nilgiris hill district. The Forest Department is coming up with a comprehensive strategy to tackle the invasive species, which continues to spread rapidly in the buffer zone.

•Introduced as an ornamental species and for use as firewood from South and Central America, the species has become highly invasive in the Sigur plateau in both the core and buffer zones of the MTR.

Native species hit

•Over the last few years, its bright yellow flowers have become more visible across the Tiger Reserve. Conservationists say the invasive weed has a negative effect on local biodiversity, crowding out native species and limiting food availability for wildlife.

•According to P. Arunkumar, Deputy Director, MTR (Buffer Zone), the Forest Department estimates that the species has spread over 800-1,200 hectares of the buffer zone.

•Local residents said the species seemed to be spreading faster over the last five years. The Forest Department is still demarcating areas where the species is spreading. According to officials, policy-level discussions are under way on Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Limited (TNPL) plan to use wood from Senna spectabilis from the MTR for paper-making. They said the funds so raised would be used in eco-restoration to bring back native species.

•Mr. Arunkumar said the Forest Department was also formulating a 10-year-plan to systematically remove Lantana camara, the other major weed that poses a threat to biodiversity in both the core and buffer zones of the Tiger Reserve.

•Senna spectabilis, along with Lantana camara, is among five major invasive weeds that had taken over vast swathes of the Nilgiris, with wattle being the other major invasive species. Eucalyptus and pine, though exotic, do not spread as quickly as the other species and are considered easier to manage, Forest Department officials said.

•Officials also stated that the Madras High Court was hearing petitions seeking the removal of exotic species, and that judges had inspected the Tiger Reserve this year to monitor the work in this regard.

📰 8,416 public grievances addressed as part of special drive, says Health Ministry

•As part of the Special Campaign 2.0 for Disposal of Pending Matters (SCDPM) and Swachhata Drive organised by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, 21,600 files were reviewed, 8,416 public grievances and their appeals redressed, and over 1,100 cleanliness campaigns conducted, the Health Ministry said in a release on Tuesday.

•Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the objectives of these campaigns were to minimise pendency, institutionalise swachhata, strengthen internal monitoring mechanisms, train officers in records management, digitise physical records for improved records management and bring all Ministries/departments on one single digital platform.

•The SCDPM and the Swachhata Drive was launched on October 1 and implemented from October 2 to 31.

Third-party evaluation

•Third party evaluations will take place from November 14 to 30, which will be followed by presentations on best practices to mark Good Governance Day on December 24 and 25, the Ministry added. Monthly progress of the campaign is being reviewed by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. The Ministry also said that ₹4,06,315 had been generated by selling scrap.

•Several institutes have adopted best practices to enhance swachhata and provide a clean and green environment on their campuses, the Health Ministry said.

•The National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases (NITRD), New Delhi, has installed Watergen, an innovative technology that converts moisture in the air to potable water. The AIIMS, Bibinagar, Telangana has developed an Ayush herbal plantation. Sensitisation programmes on hygiene were organised by the Indian Council of Medical Research in schools in Delhi.

📰 At SCO meet, Jaishankar targets BRI

India stayed out of the joint communique reference to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, while all other member states affirmed support for it

•Connectivity projects must respect sovereignty issues, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, in a reference to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), at a virtual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of Government hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday.

•Dr. Jaishankar pitched for more trade through Iran’s Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridors that India is a part of, aiming to improve bilateral trade with Central Asian countries. A communique issued after the meeting named all countries, other than India, and said they “reaffirmed their support for the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative”, “including the work to promote the alignment of the ‘Belt and Road’ construction with the construction of the Eurasian Economic Union”.

•“Our total trade with SCO Members is only $141 billion, which has potential to increase manifold. Fair market access is to our mutual benefit and only way to move forward,” Dr. Jaishankar said at the meet which included Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, and the Prime Ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The bulk of India’s trade with SCO countries is with China, which crossed $100 billion this year.

•In a series of tweets outlining his speech, Dr. Jaishankar took aim at China’s BRI saying, “Connectivity projects should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of member states and respect international law.” India has refused to join the BRI, comprising a series of infrastructure projects that pass through Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia, and has been developing and promoting the Shahid Beheshti terminal at Chabahar and the link through the INSTC as an alternative to both the BRI and to transit trade through Pakistan.

•“[I] underlined that we need better connectivity in the SCO region built on centrality of interests of Central Asian states. [This] will unlock the economic potential of this region in which Chabahar port and the International North South Transport Corridor could become enablers,” Dr. Jaishankar tweeted.

•Without referring directly to the Ukraine war, and Russia’s decision to halt the grain initiative, Dr. Jaishankar said that India will “foster greater cooperation with SCO member states on countering the food crisis”, particularly with millets. In the SCO joint communique, all countries also criticised the “imposition of unilateral economic sanctions not endorsed by the UN Security Council”, and said the sanctions “adversely affect” the global economy, without naming U.S. and European Union sanctions on Russia.

📰 This year, saffron fields to spice up tourists’ reel life in Kashmir

The tourism department had invited students and local farmers to join the saffron festival organised in Ladoo area on Tuesday to highlight the whole process of saffron cultivation

•Wearing traditional attires and enacting 16th century Kashmiri poetess and queen Habba Khatoon, students from south Kashmir’s Pampore on Tuesday put the spotlight on the ongoing saffron harvest to attract tourists for social media reels and unique experiences amidst the elevated table-land known for one of the costliest spices in the country.

•“These karewas (elevated table land) are home to Habba Khatoon. I am wearing the traditional attire to imitate our queen. Saffron has not only been a crop of Kashmir but also a source of poetry. We hope tourists will come here and enjoy the harvest season,” Zeenat, a student from the Degree College Pampore, said.

•The Kashmir tourism department had invited students and local farmers to join the saffron festival organised in Pampore’s Ladoo area on Tuesday to highlight the whole process of saffron cultivation. Traditional songs, sung in chorus while picking these flowers, were also played on the occasion.

Family business

•These days rows of purple flowers of saffron, a spice widely used across the country, dot the vast undulated highlands of Pampore. There is a festive look with hundreds of family members joining hands to pick the flowers and separate the petals from stigmas, thread-like parts. Around 30,000 families living in 226 villages, about 90% of them in Pampore, in J&K are associated with the spice business.

•“We started to collect the saffron flowers early in the morning. It will be followed by separation of petals and sticks. Thereby, we are sundrying it till the stigmas attain a particular shape,” Ibrahim Nabi, a lawyer by profession, said. He is joined by his sister who is a student, and his mother, a house-wife, to pick the flowers, like hundreds of other landowners in Pampore.

•For the tourism department, the sight of purple saffron fields could add to the list of spots visited by potential tourists, with Kashmir already hosting the highest 22 lakh tourists this year.

•“Pampore will add to the experience of tourists travelling to Kashmir. Pampore could be a major stopover for tourists to have a visual treat of saffron fields. This could be a major spot where tourists could shoot their fun-filled reels for their social media accounts, as is the trend with tourists these days,” Kashmir tourism director Faz-lul-Haseeb told The Hindu.

•After facing moisture stress, disease-ridden saffron corms, nutrient depletion and delayed stigma separation in the past, there is hope this year that the yield is likely to see a 15% increase compared to last year, according to the agriculture department.

•Saffron production was dwindling and the area under saffron cultivation declined from about 5707 hectares to 3715 hectares in the past. Productivity had equally declined from an average of 3.13 kg per hectare to 1.88 kg by 2010, the agriculture department figures suggested.

•Saffron is one of the world’s most costly spices by weight. Around 75,000 saffron blossoms produce a single pound of saffron spice and the cost varies between ₹2 and ₹3 lakh per kilogram.

Ensuring better quality

•Despite the high rate, Kashmir saffron producers have a reason to smile this year. “The India International Kashmir Trade Centre (IIKTC), Pampore, is monitoring the procurement of 45 kgs of fresh saffron flowers by Tata Consumers Product Limited this year,” Chowdhary Mohammad Iqbal, Director Agriculture, Kashmir said.

•“The adoption of latest technologies will not only increase the production but will also ensure better quality. The GI (geographical indication) tagging of saffron has increased its importance. Online marketing facilities have made it easy for buyers and sellers to trade with a wide range of market options available,” Mr. Iqbal said.

•Besides the profit, it seems the world-famous saffron is all set to spice up the stay of tourists, keen to have reels while travelling, in Kashmir too.

📰 The truth about ‘the India story’

•As the COVID-19 pandemic fades and hopes rise for nations and societies to return to some kind of normalcy, there is effort all around to take stock of where we stand and what our prospects look like. It is in this spirit that I want to look back over the last few years at how India performed in terms of its economy.

•These are polarising times and one hears some arguing that the Indian economy is doing dismally, and others chanting that it is a blazing success. The truth lies somewhere in between. It is true that the Indian rupee has been doing very poorly (especially in comparison to the stated target of our political leaders to strengthen it) and inflation, at 7.41%, is high, but these are global problems. Virtually all currencies are losing out against the U.S. dollar, and inflation right now is a global phenomenon.

•Where India is doing especially poorly is in employment generation. India’s unemployment rate is high. In October, it stood at 7.8%. However, what is really worrying is youth unemployment. According to International Labour Organization (ILO) data, collated and presented by the World Bank, India’s youth unemployment, that is, from among people aged 15 to 24 years who are looking for work, the percent that does not find any, stands at 28.3%. This places India in the cluster of troubled West Asian nations such as Iran (27.2%), Egypt (24.3%) and Syria (26.2%), and in a much worse state than most Asian countries such as Indonesia (16%), Malaysia (15.6%), and Bangladesh (14.7%).

The growth story is mixed

•India’s growth story is more mixed. In 2021-22, its GDP growth was 8.7%, which was among the highest in the world. This is good but, against this, we must offset the fact that much of this is the growth of climbing out of the pit into which we had fallen the previous year. In 2020-21, India’s growth was minus 6.6%, which placed the country in the bottom half of the global growth chart. For 2022-23, the International Monetary Fund has cut India’s growth forecast to 6.1%. There are two special worries related to this. First, given that most of India’s growth is occurring at the top end, with a few corporations raking in a disproportionate share of profits, and unemployment is so high, it is likely that large segments of the population are actually witnessing negative growth. The second worry is not so much about India’s dropping rank in the world, as about how India’s performance has been sliding compared to its own past performance.

•The short story of India’s growth is the following. After sluggish growth for about four decades after Independence, India’s growth picked up in the early 1990s, following the reform of 1991-93. From 2003, it rose again, and India joined the ranks of the Asian super performers. From 2005 to 2008, it was being acclaimed globally for being on top of most charts. For three consecutive years, India grew at, respectively, 9.3%, 9.2% and 10.2%.

•It must be pointed out that in recent years, the official Indian estimates for these years have been revised downwards. The latest Economic Survey has cut these growth rates to 7.9%, 8.0%, 8.0%. But, even with that, India stood out. In fact, from 2003 to 2011, barring one year, the start of the Great Recession in 2008-09, India was on top of most global rankings in terms of growth performance.

•What makes the current situation dire is not that India grew slower than a majority of nations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those were troubled times, and nations were often, understandably, caught on the wrong foot.

•What makes India’s growth story worrying is that the slowdown began much before the COVID-19 pandemic. It began in 2016, after which, for four consecutive years, the growth rate each year was lower than in the previous year. Growth in 2016-17 was 8.3%. After that it was, respectively, 6.9%, 6.6%, 4.8%, and minus 6.6%. This downward spiral stretching over four years has never happened before in India since its independence in 1947.

•Why is this happening? If we look at India’s policy interventions over the last six or seven years, there have been good and bad moves. India needed to make it easier for bankrupt firms to close down and move on. Without this, business was sluggish. Hence, it was good to see the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code the nation adopted in 2016. On the other hand, the demonetisation of 2016 was a big mistake. Much has been written about this. Let me not expend more time on it.

India’s investment rate

•I want to instead turn to one reason behind India’s poor growth performance over the last six years that has been largely overlooked. We know from textbook economics models that one of the most important drivers of growth is the investment rate, that is, the fraction of the national income that is spent on investment — roads, bridges, factories, even human capital. For long years, India used to have a low investment rate, and, in keeping with textbook economics, India had slow growth.

•Then the investment rate began a slow rise and crossed the 30% mark for the first time in 2004-05. By 2007-08, it had reached 39.1%. India was, for the first time, looking like an East Asian super-performer; and it was growing faster than the super performers. The investment rate remained just short of 40% for six years and then began to fall. By 2019-20, it had fallen to 32.2%.

•No one fully understands what determines the investment rate. It has many drivers. Monetary policy matters, as does fiscal policy. In addition, how much people invest depends on social and political factors.

•It is arguable that trust is a major driver of investment. As the level of trust erodes in a society, investment tends to fall.

•We will need more research to know what is causing India’s investment rate to fall. However, given the rise of political polarisation and the policy of divide and rule, it is likely that societal trust is eroding and this is reducing the investment rate. In turn, the falling investment rate is adversely impacting growth and hurting job creation.

Needed, a policy refocus

•Given India’s strong fundamentals and abundance of talent, there is no reason why such a vast expanse of the economy should be languishing, with so many people witnessing a contraction in their incomes. We do need to shift the policy focus from a few rich corporations to the larger segments of population — small businesses, farmers and ordinary labourers. There is a need for fiscal policy interventions to transfer income from the super-rich to these segments. There is ample space for this since inequality in India has risen disproportionately over the last few years. Finally, even though a divided society is easier to rule, we have to pull back from this and create an ethos of inclusion and trust, the erosion of which is slowing down investment and adversely impacting job creation and growth.

📰 The weakest link in the air pollution fight

•In the fight against air pollution in the Indo-Gangetic Plain, there are several important protagonists, none more so than India’s frontline environmental regulators, the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), and the Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) in the Union Territories. Their primary role is to regulate emissions from point sources such as industries and power plants that contribute substantially to ambient air pollution in urban and rural areas. More recently, they have also been tasked with guiding cities in meeting targets under the National Clean Air Programme and spending Finance Commission grants for air quality improvements. In short, there is no future with clean air in which the SPCBs do not perform at the highest level possible.

An enhanced mandate

•The SPCBs were initially constituted under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the SPCB mandate was expanded to include air quality management. Subsequently, several new environmental regulations added to their roles and functions. Unfortunately, this enhanced mandate has not been matched with increased capacity and capability in the Boards. As environmental indicators such as air quality and water quality worsen in many parts of the country, the Boards are evidently failing to effectively discharge their statutory mandate.

•Over the years, several reports that have been published, including those by the parliamentary standing committee and government committees, have identified reasons for the poor performance of the SPCBs. In a recently published series of papers by the Centre for Policy Research, we find that many of these reasons continue to afflict the SPCBs. This article unpacks three key institutional constraints under which SPCBs in the Indo-Gangetic Plain function, and discusses their implications on air quality governance in India.

Board composition as conflict of interest

•First, the composition of SPCBs is a matter of serious concern as important stakeholders and those with crucial expertise are missing in most States. Boards are multi-member bodies headed by a chairperson and a member-secretary. Their decisions and policies guide the day-to-day functioning of the organisation. Over 50% of the Board members across the 10 SPCBs and PCC studied represent potential polluters: local authorities, industries, and public sector corporations. They are subject to the SPCB’s regulatory measures, and their overwhelming presence raises fundamental questions around conflicts of interest.

•At the same time, scientists, medical practitioners, and academics constitute only 7% of the Board members. What is even more worrying is that most Boards do not meet the statutory requirement of having at least two Board members who have knowledge of, and experience in, air quality management. Given the scale and causes of air pollution in India, multi-disciplinary expertise is needed to tackle it; there must also be an explicit focus on health while designing air pollution policy. The lack of expertise and skewed representation of stakeholders on the Boards can only be a hindrance to effective policy making.

•Second, the SPCB leadership — the chairperson and the member secretary — do not enjoy a long, stable, and full-time tenure. In many States, persons in these two posts hold an additional charge in other government departments. Data also show that several chairpersons and member secretaries have held their posts for less than a year. For example, the shortest tenure for a chairperson has been 18 days (Chhattisgarh) and 15 days for a member secretary (Haryana and Uttar Pradesh). With the focus of the leadership of SPCB spread thin across multiple roles and their tenures being short, often they do not even have the time to understand their mandate fully before they are moved out. In such a scenario, long-term policy planning, strategic interventions and effective execution aimed at reducing air pollution substantially are extremely difficult.

Staff running on empty

•Third, the SPCBs are critically under-staffed. At least 40% of all sanctioned posts are vacant across nine SPCBs/PCCs for which there is data. Vacancy levels in technical positions are as high as 84% in Jharkhand, and over 75% in Bihar and Haryana. An inadequate staff strength forces the Boards to recast their priorities among their various functions. This has significant implications on pollution regulation as vital functions such as monitoring industrial compliance, initiating enforcement actions in case of violations, and standard setting are often not prioritised. Less staff strength also means weaker regulatory scrutiny and poor impact assessment. For example, given their workload, engineers in Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have less than a day to inspect, evaluate and decide on each consent application. With Board staff running on empty, this is clearly an unsustainable situation.

•The institutional picture we paint is rather bleak. Unfortunately, it gets worse when one considers the massive mandate of the Boards on environmental issues beyond air quality. Without essential capacity, capability, expertise, and vision in our frontline regulators, sustained and substantial gains in air quality are virtually impossible.

📰 The C-295 and India’s aircraft industry
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Tuesday, November 01, 2022

The HINDU Notes – 01st November 2022

16:57

 


📰 Anyone conducting ‘two-finger’ test on sexual assault survivors will be held guilty of misconduct: Supreme Court

“Any person who conducts the two-finger test in sexual assault cases shall be guilty of misconduct,” the Supreme Court ordered

•The Supreme Court on October 31 declared that any person conducting the invasive ‘two-finger’ or ‘three-finger’ vaginal test on rape or sexual assault survivors will be found guilty of misconduct.

•In a judgment, a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said the sole reason behind using the “regressive” test on traumatised sexual assault survivors is to see whether the woman or girl was “habituated” to sexual intercourse.

•Such a “concern” was irrelevant to fact whether she was raped or not.

•“Previous sexual experience is immaterial to the question of conduct,” Justice Chandrachud, who authored the verdict, held.

•The faulty logic behind the test was that “a woman cannot be believed when she said she was raped merely for the reason that she was sexually active”, the court said.

•“This so-called test has no scientific basis and neither proves nor disproves allegations of rape. It instead re-victimises and re-traumatises women who may have been sexually assaulted, and is an affront to their dignity. The ‘two-finger’ test or pre-vaginum test must not be conducted,” the Bench, also comprising Justice Hima Kohli, directed.

•The court said the legislature had amended the criminal law in 2013 to introduce Section 53A in the Indian Evidence Act.

•“In terms of Section 53A, the evidence of a victim’s character or her previous sexual experience with any person shall not be relevant to the issue of consent or the quality of consent in the prosecution of sexual offences,” the court held.

•The Bench noted that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued guidelines for health providers in cases of sexual violence.

•“These guidelines have proscribed the application of the two-finger test,” the judgment noted.

•In the present case, the two-finger test was conducted a decade ago.

•“But it is regrettable that it [two-finger test] continues even today,” the court underscored.

•The court directed the Centre and the State Governments to ensure that the Ministry’s guidelines were followed to the letter.

•The court ordered that the guidelines be circulated to private and government hospitals.

•It said workshops should be held for health providers to prevent the test from being conducted on rape survivors. The court said the curriculum in medical schools should be revised. It ordered copies of the judgment to be handed over to the Health Ministry, which should be circulated to the health and home departments of the States. The home departments should circulate the judgment to the Director Generals of Police in the States.

•“Any person who conducts the two-finger test in sexual assault cases shall be guilty of misconduct,” the court ordered.

📰 Decentralise MGNREGS for better implementation, says govt. study

It calls for greater diversification of permissible work; flexibility should be given at the ground level to select the type of work as per broad categories; it also flags delay in fund disbursal and notes that wages were far below the market rate

•An internal study commissioned by the Ministry of Rural Development has argued for decentralisation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), allowing for more “flexibility” at the ground level.

•The Ministry recently made public the report of the sixth Common Review Mission, which surveyed seven States — Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Nagaland, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh — and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in February to assess the implementation of all rural development schemes, including the MGNREGS.

•“There should be a greater diversification of permissible works instead of listing the types of permissible works, broad categories of works may be listed out and flexibility should be given at ground level to select the type of works as per broad categories,” the study noted.

•This is a problem also highlighted by activists and academics working in the field. “In the past few years, the fund management has been centralised instead of paying the gram sabhas an advance enabling them to decide the work they want to undertake. The gram sabhas can take into account the local conditions and the community’s requirement instead of chasing a target set for them,” said Professor Rajendra Narayanan of Azim Premji University, who co-authored a study on the role of the MGNREGS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

•The internal study also flagged the frequent delay in fund disbursal, and to deal with it suggested a “revolving fund that can be utilised whenever there is a delay in the Central funds”.

•The survey quoted various instances to underline this chronic problem. In Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh, for example, the surveyors found that because of the delay in the material component, the beneficiaries ended up buying the construction material themselves to complete the projects. In Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, the delay in wages was by three or four months and the material component by six months.

•The study also noted that the MGNREGS wages were far below the market rate in many States, defeating the purpose of acting as a safety net.

•At present, the minimum wage of a farm labourer in Gujarat is ₹324.20, but the MGNREGS wage is ₹229. The private contractors pay far more. In Nagaland, the wage is ₹212 per day, which does not take into account the difficult terrain.

•In Jammu and Kashmir, the rate is ₹214 per day. This, the study noted, “is lower than what is offered by private contractors which can go up to ₹600-₹700 per day”.

📰 Sequence of implementation, EWS quota outcomes

•The original intent of the reservation policy in newly independent India was to level the playing field for the most marginalised sections, those stigmatised and discriminated against on account of their birth into specific caste and tribal groups. While these groups were also economically deprived, that was not the main rationale for instituting compensatory discrimination in favour of these groups.

•Over the decades, the instrument of reservation has expanded to include more groups under its ambit, leading to furious debates both about the general principle of affirmative action and about which groups deserve to be beneficiaries. These disputes have resulted in complex legal cases, with the rulings providing the nuts-and-bolts mechanics that guide the implementation of the reservation policy on the ground.

•This article draws attention to a crucial impending implementation decision about the economically weaker sections (EWS) quota, and shows how the sequence of implementation would result to diverging outcomes.

•The reservation system in India takes two forms: vertical reservation (VR), which until 2019 was defined for stigmatised and marginalised social groups (SCs, STs and OBCs); and horizontal reservation (HR), applicable to cross-cutting categories such as women, people with disability (PWD), domicile, etc. As long as the VR system was social group-based, no individual was eligible for multiple VR categories, since no individual can belong to multiple caste or tribal groups.

•The 103rd Constitution Amendment Act in 2019, popularly known as the 10% quota for the so-called EWS, fundamentally altered the original raison d’être of reservations by opening VR to groups that are not defined in terms of hereditary social group identity (caste or tribe). EWS status is transient (that individuals can fall into or escape out of), but social groups are permanent markers of identity.

•While this meant that in principle, an individual could belong to two VR categories (say, SC and EWS), the amendment explicitly removed individuals who are already eligible for one VR (SC, ST, or OBC) from the scope of EWS reservations. As a result of this exclusion, an individual could still be only eligible for at most one vertical category.

•Exclusion of SCs, STs, OBCs from the scope of EWS reservation was immediately challenged in court on the grounds that it violated individual right to equality (that roughly corresponds to Articles 14-18 of the Indian Constitution).

•On the last day of hearings at the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court, the following “compromise” proposal was made by G. Mohan Gopal: do not revoke the amendment but interpret the language of the amendment in a way that does not exclude SCs, STs, OBCs from the scope of EWS reservation.

Overlapping VR categories and ambiguity

•Allowing for overlapping VR categories (such as SC and EWS, etc.) generates an important ambiguity under the current legal framework, most notably stemming from the ruling of the Indra Sawhney case ( 1992). Under this, any member of a reserved category who is entitled to an open-category position based on “merit” (examination) score should be awarded an open-category position, and not be slotted under a VR position. Technically, this implies that open-category positions must be allocated based on merit in the first step, and VR positions should be allocated to eligible individuals in the second step. This procedure is called “over-and-above” choice rule in the literature. This is to be distinguished from the “guaranteed minimum” rule which would guarantee a minimum number of positions to members of beneficiary groups, regardless of whether they enter through reserved or open (“merit”) positions.

•When VR categories are mutually exclusive, i.e., no individual can be a member of multiple vertical categories, it is completely immaterial in what sequence vertical categories are processed in relation to each other. However, if individuals can belong to two vertical categories, the relative processing sequence of vertical categories becomes very important, as Sönmez and his fellow economist Utku Ünver show in their 2022 paper.

•How will sequencing matter? EWS-first: Consider the scenario where EWS positions before other VR categories, immediately after the open category seats. In her 2019 paper with economist Rajesh Ramachandran, Deshpande shows that under the current income limit for EWS reservation, more than 98% of the population qualifies, i.e., almost everyone is eligible for EWS reservation. If EWS reservations are filled first, the outcome would be the same as treating EWS positions as open positions.

•This would effectively end up making the EWS reservation redundant. Since the richest applicants are not eligible for EWS, the actual outcome would be slightly different, but not a whole lot as the richest 2% may not even apply to public institutions where quotas are applicable.

•EWS-last: If EWS positions are allocated after all other VR positions are filled, this issue will not arise. Now, while all individuals with incomes lower than the EWS limit are equally eligible for EWS positions (which is still effectively all individuals), the system awards the EWS positions to eligible individuals who have highest merit scores. But since some of the higher score individuals from SCs, STs and OBCs would be admitted under their respective quotas, this sequencing will make EWS positions more accessible to members of forward castes.

On which sequence is better

•The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that two routes imply very different policy outcomes. We are highlighting the fact that overlapping VR categories lead to a major ambiguity (or loophole) in the system. If the objective is to make EWS equally applicable to the current VR categories, then EWS-first should be adopted with the recognition that this sequencing will effectively convert EWS into what are currently open category positions. If the objective is to minimally interfere with the amendment, then EWS-last should be adopted with the recognition that this sequencing will still tilt the EWS category in favour of forward castes. Since the impact of these two routes will be vastly different, it would be best if this subtle aspect of EWS reservation is carefully evaluated and integrated into the implementation of the policy.

•What if the current income limit of the EWS category is changed (lowered)? That would change the calculus somewhat since poorer individuals from all social groups (including non-SC-ST-OBC) would be eligible. In this scenario, the richer (above the presumed new income cut-off) SC-ST-OBC individuals will be eligible only for the social group-based VR positions. However, changing income limits is likely to open a whole new Pandora’s box, especially in the absence of reliable income data. Realistically, shifting the income cut-off for EWS seems unlikely.

•Therefore, the court would be well-advised to consider the implications of the implementation routes and to make sure there are no ambiguities, i.e., no loopholes. Ambiguities in reservation rules have led to court cases, leading to long delays in filling up positions. Given the enormity of the unemployment situation, as well as the importance of addressing social cleavages, the urgency of working out an optimal implementation strategy cannot be overstated.

📰 The ambiguity of reservations for the poor: unconstitutional or not?
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