UPSC Daily Current Affairs- September 20, 2022 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly PDF Download

GS-II

Context

Recently, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a USD 96.3-million loan agreement to provide safe drinking water and improve water supply and sanitation services in the state of Himachal Pradesh.

Key Highlights of the Project

• About
  • The project is aligned with the objectives of the Government of India’s Jal Jeevan Mission which aims to provide piped water to all rural households by 2024.
  • It will upgrade water supply infrastructure and strengthen institutional capacity to ensure safe, sustainable, and inclusive rural water supply and sanitation services.
• Features
  • Water Supply Infrastructure Revamping: Although more than 90% of the state's rural population has access to drinking water, the water supply infrastructure needs revamping, for efficient and improved service quality.
  • Fecal Management Programme: A pilot fecal sludge management and sanitation programme will also be implemented in Sirmaur District, benefiting 250,000 residents.
• Strengthen Jal Shakti Vibhag
  • The project will strengthen the capacity of the Jal Shakti Vibhag of the Government of Himachal Pradesh and gram panchayat (local government) village water and sanitation committees.
  • It will support the state government's water tariff policy reforms and introduce an asset management system at the state-level and district asset management plans.
  • Key project stakeholders and community-based organisations will be trained on water management, including livelihood skills training for women's self-help groups.

About Asian Development Bank

• ADB, established in 1966 is owned by 68 members-49 from the region.
•  It is committed to achieving a prosperous, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable Asia and the Pacific while sustaining its efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
• Further, it assists members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development.
• It aims to promote social and economic development in Asia and the Pacific.
• As of 31^st December 2019, ADB’s five largest shareholders are Japan and the United States (each with 15.6% of total shares), the People’s Republic of China (6.4%), India (6.3%), and Australia (5.8%).
• It is headquartered in Manila, Philippines.

Context

The Government of India has been undertaking various initiatives to attract more E&P (Exploration & Production) investment to increase self-reliance in the energy sector.

What is the need to Becoming Self-Reliant in the Energy Sector?

• India is not energy independent. It spends over Rs 12 lakh crore on importing energy.
• The government is planning to get energy independence before 100 years of independence is completed i.e., by 2047.
• As green power takes precedence in the global scheme of things, the Indian government has already kick-started its green hydrogen journey.
• For a nation, 85% dependent on imports for meeting its oil needs and 50 % for gas requirements, the key is alternate energy sources - from renewable power to hydrogen and switching to electric vehicles from current petrol and diesel-run automobiles.
• From solar energy to Mission Hydrogen to adoption to EVs, we need to take these initiatives to the next level for energy independence.
• India is the world's fifth largest producer of ethanol after the US, Brazil, EU and China. Ethanol worldwide is largely used for consumption but nations like Brazil and India also dope it in petrol.
• Self-reliance through green energy initiatives is the foundation of a green and sustainable economy. Green energy initiatives focus on clean energy and its availability to all individuals and businesses.

What are the Government’s Achievements in the Energy Sector?

• The target of supplying petrol mixed with 10% ethanol (10% ethanol, 90% petrol) was achieved in June 2022, ahead of the original schedule of November 2022.
  • Encouraged by the success, the government advanced the target of making petrol with 20% ethanol by five years to 2025.
• As of March 2021, 2.82 crore households have been electrified under Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, “Saubhagya”.
• By June, 2022, over 36.86 crore LED bulbs, 72.18 lakh LED tube lights and 23.59 lakh energy-efficient fans have been distributed across the country, saving around 48,411 million kWh per year and Rs. 19,332 crores in cost savings.
• As of June 2022, over 44 lakh smart metres have been deployed under the National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM), with a further 67 lakhs to be deployed.
• Solar tariffs in India have reduced from Rs. 7.36/kWh (US 10 cents/kWh) in FY15 to Rs. 2.45/kWh (US 3.2 cents/kWh) in July 2021.
• India’s rank jumped to 22 in 2019 from 137 in 2014 on World Bank’s Ease of doing business - "Getting Electricity" ranking.

Way Forward

• India must exploit solar and wind energy, and especially green hydrogen energy, in its electricity system to meet the ever-increasing energy demand.
• The aspects like investment, infrastructure development, private-public partnership, green financing, policy framework need to be strengthened both at the national level and regional level to cater to inclusiveness in the development process.
• Green energy has tremendous potential in contributing to income, employment, and entrepreneurship and undoubtedly fosters sustainable development.
• In addition to job and income generation, it opens up opportunities/avenues for investment and markets for new products and services. So, India should focus on achieving green energy and self-reliance in the Energy Sector together.

Context

The ninth session of the governing body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) has recently begun in New Delhi.

Theme of this years event
The theme of the meeting is ‘Celebrating the Guardians of Crop Diversity: Towards an Inclusive Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’.

What is the Plant Treaty?

• The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) was adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations November 3, 2001.
• It was signed in 2001 in Madrid, and entered into force on 29 June 2004.
• It is the first legally-binding international instrument to formally acknowledge the enormous contribution of indigenous people and small-holder farmers as traditional custodians of the world’s food crops.
• It also calls on nations to protect and promote their rights to save and use the seeds they have taken care of for millennia.
• The parties to this treaty have come together after nearly three years to discuss governance of agricultural biodiversity and global food security.

Objectives of the treaty

The treaty aims at:

• Guaranteeing food security through the conservation
• Exchange and sustainable use of the world’s plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA)
• Fair and equitable benefit sharing arising from its use, as well as
• Recognition of farmers’ rights.

Key feature: Annex 1 Crops

• The treaty has implemented a Multilateral System (MLS) of access and benefit sharing, among those countries that ratify the treaty, for a list of 64 of some of the most important food and forage crops essential for food security and interdependence.
• The genera and species are listed in Annex 1 to the treaty. The treaty facilitates the continued open exchange of food crops and their genetic materials.
• The list of plant genetic material included in the Multilateral System of the Treaty is made of major food crops and forages.
• The Forages are also divided in legume forages and grass forages.
• They were selected taking into account the criteria of food security and country interdependence.

Context

The Centre is likely to soon decide on setting up a national commission to study the social, economic and educational status of Dalits who converted to religions other than Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism.

• Several petitions are pending before the Supreme Court seeking Scheduled Caste (SC) reservation benefits for Dalits who converted to Christianity or Islam.

Dalit Convertees and Quota Benefits

• The original rationale behind giving reservation to Scheduled Castes was that these sections had suffered from the social evil of untouchability, which was practised among Hindus.
• Under Article 341 of the Constitution, the President may specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall…be deemed to be Scheduled Castes.
• The first order under this provision was issued in 1950, and covered only Hindus.
• Following demands from the Sikh community, an order was issued in 1956, including Sikhs of Dalit origin among the beneficiaries of the SC quota.
• In 1990, the government acceded to a similar demand from Buddhists of Dalit origin, and the order was revised to state: “No person who professes a religion different from the Hindu, the Sikh or the Buddhist religion shall be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Caste.”

Does this religion-based bar apply to converted STs and OBCs as well?

• It does not.
• The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) website states, “The rights of a person belonging to a Scheduled Tribe are independent of his/her religious faith.”
• Following the implementation of the Mandal Commission report, several Christian and Muslim communities have found place in the Central and state lists of OBCs.

What efforts have been made to include Muslims and Christians of Dalit origin among SCs?

• After 1990, a number of Private Member’s Bills were brought in Parliament for this purpose.
• In 1996, a government Bill called The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill was drafted, but in view of a divergence of opinions, the Bill was not introduced in Parliament.
• Then government headed by PM Manmohan Singh set up two important panels:
  • Ranganath Misra Commission: The National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, popularly known as the Ranganath Misra Commission, in October 2004 and
  • Sachar Committee: A seven-member high-level committee headed by former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court Rajinder Sachar to study the social, economic, and educational condition of Muslims in March 2005.

What did they recommend?

• The Sachar Committee Report observed that the social and economic situation of Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians did not improve after conversion.
• The Ranganath Misra Commission, which submitted its report in May 2007, recommended that SC status should be completely de-linked from religion and Scheduled Castes should be made fully religion-neutral like Scheduled Tribes.

Reception to these recommendations

• The report was tabled in Parliament in 2009, but its recommendation was not accepted in view of inadequate field data and corroboration with the actual situation on the ground.
• Few studies, commissioned by the National Commission for Minorities, was also not considered reliable due to insufficient data.

What lies ahead?

• Based on the recommendations of the Ranganath Misra Commission, there are some petitions pending before the Supreme Court, seeking reservation benefits for Christians and Muslims of Dalit orgin.
• In the last hearing, a three-judge Bench gave the Solicitor General of India three weeks’ time to present the stand of the Union government on the issue.
• The next hearing is awaited.

Context

The Market-Based Economic Dispatch (MBED) mechanism envisages centralised scheduling for dispatching the entire annual electricity consumption of around 1,400 billion units.

What is the Centralised Model of MBED?

• MBED mechanism proposes a centralised scheduling of power dispatches, both inter-state and intra-state.
• It will mark a clear shift from a decentralised model which is backed by Electricity Act, 2003.
• MBED is a way forward to deepen power markets in line with the Centre’s ‘One Nation, One Grid, One Frequency, One Price’ formula.
  • It will ensure that the cheapest electricity generating resources across the country are supplied to meet the overall system demand and will therefore be a win-win for both the distribution companies and the generators and result in savings for consumers.
• The implementation of the first phase of MBED was earlier planned to start with effect from April 1, 2022.
  • However, it was put off for later in 2022, the date for which is yet to be announced.

What are the Concerns Associated with the Centralised Model of MBED?

• MBED will have effect on the relative autonomy of states in managing their electricity sector, including their own generating stations, and make the Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) (mostly state-owned) entirely dependent on the centralised mechanism.
• MBED is inconsistent with the constitutional provisions, existing legislative framework and market structure, and could end up creating more challenges than it resolves as it infringes on the autonomy of states.
• The concerns regarding the viability of DISCOMs really need to be tackled.
  • Currently, power is in the Concurrent List of the Constitution, with the electricity grid being divided into state-wise autonomous control areas managed by the State Load Dispatch Centres (SLDCs), which in turn are supervised by Regional Load Dispatch Centres (RLDCs) and the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC).
    • Each control area is responsible in real time for balancing its demand with generation resources.
  • The new model will narrow the multiple options currently available under the voluntary market design with day-ahead contracts turning redundant.
  • For instance, the DISCOMs and SLDC wouldn’t be able to buy or sell power in the real-time market.
• It could potentially clash with emerging market trends i.e., increase in renewable energy in the overall generation mix and the increasing numbers of electric vehicles plugging into the grid.
  • All of these actually necessitate greater decentralisation of markets and voluntary pools for efficient grid management and operations.
• India has a diversified electricity market ranging from long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), cross border PPAs, short and medium term bilaterals, day-ahead power exchange, and a real-time online market.
  • Around 87% of the installed power is tied up under long term PPAs and the remaining is transacted in the power markets.
  • At present, each control area or state follows merit-order dispatch (cheapest power dispatched first) from the basket of intra-state and inter-state resources and buys or sells on the day-ahead power exchange. The schedules under long-term PPAs can be revised.
  • However, this feature of pan-India visibility of the available tradable power on a daily basis on the power exchange will not be available as per the MBED model.
• The must-run status of somepower stations such as Trombay TPS, Mumbai or the Dadri TPS in the NCR region will come under question.
  • These power stations are critical for security of supply to key cities such as Mumbai or Delhi and in islanding operations in the event of a grid failure.
• The proposed Bilateral Contract Settlement (BCS) mechanism under the scheme for refunding the difference between the Market Clearing Price and the contract price under the PPA, primarily to keep the PPA prices intact, is another challenge.
  • This will dilute the objective of “market-driven prices” while complicating the entire accounting and settlement process.
  • Further, it will erode the sanctity of time tested PPAs and create a volatile wholesale market.

GS-III

Context

In order to reduce the use of chemical fertilisers by incentivising states, the Union government plans to introduce a new scheme – PM PRANAM, which stands for PM Promotion of Alternate Nutrients for Agriculture Management Yojana.

About PM PRANAM scheme

• The proposed scheme intends to reduce the subsidy burden on chemical fertilisers.
• This burden if uneased, is expected to increase to Rs 2.25 lakh crore in 2022-2023, which is 39% higher than the previous year’s figure of Rs 1.62 lakh crore.
• The scheme will not have a separate budget and will be financed by the “savings of existing fertiliser subsidy” under schemes run by the Department of fertilisers.

Subsidies under the PRANAM

• Further, 50% subsidy savings will be passed on as a grant to the state that saves the money and that 70% of the grant provided under the scheme can be used for asset creation related to technological adoption of alternate fertilisers.
• It would create alternate fertiliser production units at village, block and district levels.
• The remaining 30% grant money can be used for incentivising farmers, panchayats, farmer producer organisations and self-help groups that are involved in the reduction of fertiliser use and awareness generation.
• The government will compare a state’s increase or reduction in urea in a year, to its average consumption of urea during the last three years.

How much fertiliser does India require?

• The kharif season (June-October) is critical for India’s food security, accounting for nearly half the year’s production of foodgrains, one-third of pulses and approximately two-thirds of oilseeds.
• A sizable amount of fertiliser is required for this season.
• The Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare assesses the requirement of fertilisers each year before the start of the cropping season, and informs the Ministry of Chemical and fertilisers to ensure the supply.
• The amount of fertiliser required varies each month according to demand, which is based on the time of crop sowing, which also varies from region to region.
• For example, the demand for urea peaks during June-August period, but is relatively low in March and April, and the government uses these two months to prepare for an adequate amount of fertiliser for the kharif season.

Why is the scheme being introduced?

• Due to increased demand for fertiliser in the country over the past 5 years, the overall expenditure by the government on subsidy has also increased.
• The final figure of fertiliser subsidy touched Rs 1.62 lakh crore in 2021-22.
• The total requirement of four fertilisers — Urea, DAP (Di-ammonium Phosphate), MOP (Muriate of potash), NPKS (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) — increased by 21% between 2017-2018 and 2021-2022, from 528.86 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) to 640.27 LMT.
• PM PRANAM, which seeks to reduce the use of chemical fertiliser, will likely reduce the burden on the exchequer.
• The proposed scheme is also in line with the government’s focus on promoting the balanced use of fertilisers or alternative fertilisers in the last few years.

Context

Recently, the Government has launched a National Logistics Policy (NLP) 2022, aiming to achieve ‘quick last-mile delivery', end transport-related challenges.

What is Logistics?

• Logistics encompasses planning, coordinating, storing, and moving resources —people, raw materials, inventory, equipment, etc., from one location to another, from the production points to consumption, distribution, or other production points.
• The term "logistics" describes the total process of controlling the acquisition, storage, and delivery of resources to their intended location.
• It entails locating potential distributors and suppliers and evaluating the viability and accessibility of such parties.

What is NLP 2022?

• About
  • The policy focuses on key areas such as process re-engineering, digitisation, and multi-modal transport.
  • It is a crucial move as high logistics cost impacts the competitiveness of domestic goods in the international market.
  • The need for a national logistics policy was felt since the logistics cost in India is high as compared to other developed economies.
• Goals
  • Logistics costs have to be cut by half to be near global benchmarks by 2030 by reducing the cost of logistics from 14-18% of GDP to global best practices of 8%.
    • Countries like the US, South Korea, Singapore, and certain European nations have such a low logistics cost-to-GDP ratio.
    • The current cost is 16% of GDP.
  • Being the 5^th largest economy in the world, India aims to be among the top 10 in the LPI (Logistics Performance Index) by 2030. It has to match the pace of South Korea.
    • In 2018, India was ranked 44th in the LPI.
  • Creating data-driven Decision Support Systems (DSS) to enable an efficient logistics ecosystem.
  • The policy’s target is to ensure that logistical issues are minimised, exports grow manifold, and small industries and the people working in them benefit significantly.
• Key Building Blocks
  • Digital Integration System: It will lead to seamless and faster work-flow, making logistics significantly more efficient.
  • Unified Logistics Interface Platform: It aims to collapse all logistics and transport sector digital services into a single portal, thereby freeing manufacturers and exporters from the present tyranny of long and cumbersome processes.
  • Ease of Logistics Services: E-Logs, a new digital platform, will allow industry to directly take up operational issues with government agencies for speedy resolution.
  • Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan: The Comprehensive Logistics Action Plan comprising integrated digital logistics systems, standardisation of physical assets, benchmarking service standards, human resource development, capacity building, development of logistics parks, etc.

What is the Significance of the Policy?

• PM Gati Shakti will get further boost and complementarity with the launch of the National Logistics Policy.
• The Policy will help make the sector an integrated, cost-efficient, resilient, and sustainable logistics ecosystem in the country as it covers all bases of the sector along with streamlining rules and addressing supply-side constraints.
• The policy is an endeavor to improve the competitiveness of Indian goods, enhance economic growth and increase employment opportunities.

Context

Ethereum’s shift of its consensus algorithm from proof-of-work (PoW) to environment-friendly proof-of-stake (PoS) in an event called ‘The Merge’ recently took place.

What is Ethereum?

• Ethereum is one of the most used platforms by developers to build decentralised apps (dApps), smart contracts, and even crypto tokens.
• The platform’s currency, Ether is only second to Bitcoin (BTC) in terms of market capitalisation.
• The change in the way Ethereum builds the blockchain comes with not just environmental consequences, but also major cyber and financial security implications.

What is a Merge?

• The Merge is an upgrade to the way transactions are validated on the Ethereum blockchain.
• It moves the network proof-of-work (PoW) system to proof-of-stake (PoS) system, which is designed to be more environmentally sustainable and faster.

What does PoS and PoW refer to?

• PoS and PoW are consensus mechanisms through which transactions on blockchains are validated.
• PoW consumes more energy since it allows all miners on a network to try and validate a transaction.
• As a result, more computers attack a transaction and hence consume more energy.
• PoS removes miners from the equation, replacing them with entities called ‘validators’.
• These validators put up a stake (at least 32ETH) in order to gain the right to validate transactions. Only the top stakeholders are rewarded for their work.
• Their stakes are held in a central wallet, and they are penalized for mistakes or frauds.
• Common centres for mining included China (before a near total crypto ban), the US, Russia, and Kazakhstan — countries with cheap electricity rates and colder climates.

Why is there a need for a new mechanism?

• Power Saving
  • Decentralised transactions are processed on blockchains using consensus mechanisms.
  • Ethereum’s former method, ‘proof-of-work’, which is also used by Bitcoin, needs powerful mining hardware that consumes a lot of electricity and generates enormous amounts of heat.
  • This energy is then used to process extremely difficult mathematical puzzles, the solution of which would let new transactions be added to the blockchain so as to reward the miners with crypto.
  • Many environmentalists, policy makers, and regulators have strongly criticised the impact of Bitcoin mining on local communities.
  • Ethereum’s website admitted that their crypto’s total annualised power consumption nearly matches that of Finland while its carbon footprint is comparable to Switzerland.
• Global Crackdown
  • For some time, European countries even mulled a crypto mining ban, while China actually carried out a nationwide crackdown on crypto miners, sending them fleeing overseas.
  • Probably as a response to the backlash, Ethereum has decided to switch to a ‘proof-of-stake’ consensus mechanism.
  • The crypto owners will stake their own coins in order to serve as collateral and help process new blockchain transactions, in return for rewards.

Significance of the merge

• According to the Ethereum Foundation, the Merge will reduce overall energy consumption of the Ethereum network by 99.95%.
• Blockchains have a short history so far, but in that history, the Merge has become one of the most widely publicized and awaited events.
• It has been in the works for six years and 15 September marked the end of that build-up.

Which other cryptocurrencies are changing to proof-of-stake now?

• For now, no other top coin is planning an Ethereum-style Merge.
• After Bitcoin, Dogecoin [DOGE] is the largest proof-of-work-based cryptocurrency.
• It was initially created as a joke by its founders. After that comes Ethereum Classic [ETC], formerly part of Ethereum before a community schism.
• Ethereum Classic has made it clear that it is loyal to the proof-of-work mechanism.