GS3 PYQ (Mains Answer Writing): Acts and Policies | Environment for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Q1: What are the key features of the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) initiated by the Government of India? (UPSC MAINS GS3 )

According to the, World Air Quality Report 2019,the 21 Indian cities are among the world’s 30 most polluted cities of the world and the level of the pollutant PM 2.5 and PM 10 are often well above the World Health Organisation’s recommended level of exposure and this leads to serious respiratory problem for those exposed to it.
In pursuance of its commitment, towards the 2015 Paris agreement as the inflection point, where India committed to cut the green house gas emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35 per cent over the 2005 levels by 2030, the Indian Government started the National Climate Action Programme (NCAP).
The National Clean Air Programme is a pollution control initiative that was launched by the Ministry of Environment with the intention to cut the concentration of coarse PM 2.5 and PM 10 by at least 20% in the next five years, with 2017 as the base year for comparison. It is a national level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner.
Features of the NCAP 

• Time bound strategy: The National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) is a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle the air pollution. 
• Reduction in Particulate Matter: It targets to achieve 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 keeping 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration. 
• Non-attainment cities: Under NCAP, 122 non-attainment cities have been identified across the country based on the Air Quality data from 2014-2018. 
• City specific plans: The city specific action plans have been prepared for strengthening the monitoring network, reducing vehicular/industrial emissions, increasing public awareness etc. 
• Implementation of the plan: Implementation of the city specific action plans are regularly monitored by Committees at Central and State level namely Steering Committee, Monitoring Committee and Implementation Committee. 
• Monitoring of plans: Air quality of cities is monitored by State Pollution Control Boards which publishes their results from time to time. Some Smart Cities have established Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) which are also connected to Air Quality Monitors (AQMs) for effective monitoring. 

Conclusion 
The Programme is aimed at reducing the level of pollution but a number of challenges dilute the effectiveness of the programme. The lack of strong legal backing to take action against nonimplementation, lack of sector wise specific targets, a meager budget allocation and lack of clarity of funding provisions are some of the issues which reduce the efficiency of the programme. Recently, NGT also urged government to reduce the time line of the programme from 2024 along with the raise in the reduction targets of Particulate matter from 20%-30%. The better results could be obtained only after removing all the challenges and adopting better implementation measures.

Topics Covered - NCAP

Q2: Elaborate the impact of National Watershed Project in increasing agricultural production from water-stressed areas. (UPSC MAINS GS3 )

The project aims to fulfil the watershed component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMSKY) to reduce surface runoff of rainwater, increase groundwater levels and better water availability in rainfed areas. This will contribute to higher agricultural production even in water-stressed areas.
Impact of National Watershed Project in increasing agricultural production in water-stressed areas. 

• It was launched for achieving the major objectives of the Watershed Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY) and for ensuring access to irrigation to every farm (Har Khet Ko Pani) and efficient use of water (Per Drop More Crop) 
• It will bring about institutional changes in watershed and rainfed agricultural management practices in India. 
• It will help to build systems that ensure watershed programmes and rainfed irrigation management practices are better focused, and more coordinated, and have quantifiable results. 
• It will devise strategies for the sustainability of improved watershed. management practices in programme areas, even after the withdrawal of project support. 
• The watershed project will lead to reducing surface runoff of rainwater. 
• It will increase recharge of ground water. 
• It will result in better availability in rainfed areas resulting in incremental rainfed agriculture productivity. 
• It will also translate into enhanced milk yields. 
• It will increase cropping intensity in such areas through better convergence of related programmes in project areas. 
• Watershed development projects are area development programme and all people living in the project area will be benefitted. 
• Case study: Drought in India has had detrimental impact since many centuries and continues to be. Nearly 9 million farmers of Maharashtra were impacted by the drought in 2016. 
  • Drought situation arises due to inadequate and delayed rain as well as lack of arrangements to harvest rainwater. Paani Foundation is an NGO working towards making Maharashtra drought-free with Satyamev Jayate water cup. 
  • Water Cup is a competition between different villages, village that does maximum work for watershed management and water conservation wins. Water cup has brought forth a revolution by motivating thousands of volunteers to make Maharashtra a drought free state. 
  • One such village facing drought situation is Ambale in Purandar taluka. 

Conclusion 

However, despite these successes, a number of challenges remain for watershed development to achieve better outcomes, including enhanced participation of communities, building stronger capacities and systems to plan, implement, monitor and post-project sustainability of local institutions and assets. These challenges, if not resolved, can result in implementation delays, slow disbursements and benefits.

Topics Covered - National Watershed Project

Q3: Assess the role of National Horticulture Mission (NHM) in boosting the production, productivity and income of horticulture farms. How far has it succeeded in increasing the income of farmers? (UPSC MAINS GS 3)

National Horticulture Mission (NHM) is an Indian Government scheme promoted with the objective to develop horticulture to the maximum potential available in the states and to augment production of all horticultural products. This scheme was launched under 10th five year plan in 2005-06. 

• Under this scheme centre government contributes 85%, and 15% is contributed by the state government. The role of NHM in boosting the production, productivity and income of horticultural farms can be assessed as: It provides holistic growth of the horticulture sector through an area based regionally differentiated strategies due to which more than 9 crore metric tons of fruits on 63 lakh hectare land were produced during 2015-16. 
• Horticulture farms are much smaller and horticulture crops have high return on investment which allows marginal farmers to increase their income using small lands. Farmers can plant multiple crops on their land which provide multiple earning resources. Regions experiencing low rainfall and prone to drought are getting benefit from the option of horticulture which requires less water and is less susceptible to crop failure. 
• For example, Bagepalli, a drought prone area in Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border is now emerging as a horticulture hot spot. Horticulture crops have short turnaround time than food crops which helps in efficient land utilization, increased production and productivity, and also increases income of farmers. 
• After the launch of the NHM, significant progress has been made in area expansion under horticulture crops, resulting in higher production and increase in income. Over the last decade, the area under horticulture grew at an average rate of 2.7% per annum and annual production increases at an average rate of 7.0% per annum. In Bagepalli, for example, the annual turnover was Rs 6 lakh in 2016. 
• But it has been Rs 10 lakh a month in 2018, as farmers swiftly shifted to horticulture crops. This form of cultivation is gathering steam across the country, even as the Centre aims to double farmer incomes by 2022. But still challenges like inadequate cold storage infrastructure, limited availability of market, limited support from government and high price fluctuation are needed to be catered to achieve the aim of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

Topics Covered- National Horticulture Mission

Q4: How does biodiversity vary in India? How is the Biological Diversity Act,2002 helpful in conservation of flora and fauna? (UPSC MAINS GS3 )

• India is one of the recognized mega-diverse countries of the world, rich in biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge. With just 2.4% of the land area, India accounts for nearly 7% of the recorded species even while supporting almost 18% of human population. 
• In terms of species richness, India ranks seventh in mammals, ninth in birds and fifth in reptiles. In terms of endemism of vertebrate groups, India’s position is tenth in birds with 69 species, fifth in reptiles with 156 species and seventh in amphibians with 110 species. 
• India’s share of crops is 44% as compared to the world average of 11% to space. 
• Of the 34 globally identified biodiversity hotspots, India harbours two hotspots, i.e., Eastern Himalayas, Western Ghats and Sri Lanka 
• The varied Edaphic, Climatic and Topographic conditions have resulted in a wide range of ecosystems and habitats such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, coastal and marine ecosystems, and deserts in India with greater biodiversity. There are 10 bio-geographic zones which are distinguished clearly in India. 

They are as follows: 

• Trans-Himalayas: An extension of the Tibetan plateau, harbouring high-altitude cold desert in Laddakh (J&K) and LahaulSpiti (H.P) comprising 5.7% of the country’s landmass. 
• Himalayas: The entire mountain chain running from north-western to north-eastern India, comprising a diverse range of biotic provinces and biomes, 7.2% of the country’s landmass. 
• Desert: The extremely arid area west of the Aravalli hill range, comprising both the salty desert of Gujarat and the sand desert of Rajasthan. 6.9% of the country’s landmass. 
• Semi-arid: The zone between the desert and the Deccan plateau, including the Aravalli hill range. 15.6% of the country’s landmass. 
• Western ghats: The hill ranges and plains running along the western coastline, south of the Tapti river, covering an extremely diverse range of biotic provinces and biomes. 5.8% of the country’s landmass. 
• Deccan peninsula: The largest of the zones, covering much of the southern and south central plateau with predominantly deciduous vegetation. 4.3% of the country’s landmass. 
• Gangetic plain: Defined by the Ganges river system, these plains are relatively homogenous. 11% of the country’s landmass. 
• North-east India: The plains and non-Himalayan hill ranges of north-eastern India, with a wide variation of vegetation. 5.2% of the country’s landmass. 
• Islands: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal, with a highly diverse set of biomes. 0.03% of the country’s landmass. 
• Coasts: A large coastline distributed both to the west and east, with distinct differences between the two; Lakshadeep islands are included in this with the percent area being negligible. Biological Diversity Act, 2002 
• The Biological Diversity Act 2002 was born out of India’s attempt to realize the objectives enshrined in the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 1992 which recognizes the sovereign rights of states to use their own Biological Resources. 
• The act provide for conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components and fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the use of biological/genetic resources, knowledge and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. 
• The Act envisages a three-tier structure to regulate access to the biological resources, comprising of National Biodiversity Authority (NBA), State Biodiversity Boards (SBB) and Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC) at the local level.

Topics Covered - Biological Diversity Act,2002 Role in Protection of Flora and Fauna