📰 Max, Fortis effect: IMA for self-regulation for doctors
But wants govts. to subsidise emergencies in private sector
•Amid allegations of medical negligence and overcharging by two private hospitals in Delhi-NCR, the Indian Medical Association on Monday urged State governments to subsidise emergencies in the private sector and create a reimbursement mechanism.
•No hospital can force its consultants to work on targets and the choice of drugs and devices should rest with the doctors based on the affordability of a patient and not the hospital management, it said.
•Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, IMA president Dr. K.K. Aggarwal said: “It is time for the medical profession to introspect and come out with self-regulation procedures. From today onwards, all doctors in the country shall choose affordable drugs.”
•Referring to the Max Hospital case of a premature baby being wrongly declared dead by the doctors, he said such errors happen due to accident and not intentionally.
•“The doctor-patient trust is experiencing a downward spiral in the country as people are looking at the medical profession with suspicion. It is disheartening to see the erosion in trust, and we want to make it more transparent. The doctor-to-patient ratio in India is skewed due to which the doctors are under a lot of stress — they are also human beings,” Dr. Aggarwal said. Stating that it is “absurd to victimise a medical practitioner if a patient does not respond to treatment”, he said: “Once a treatment is administered, the recuperation of a patient depends upon physical and organic factors.”
•“We also appeal to the State governments to come out with an urgent ordinance for 'one drug-one company-one price policy'. Doctors should actively participate in ensuring that no hospital sells any item priced higher than the Market Rate Price. No service charges should be added to procure drugs from outside,” the IMA president added.
📰 For clean air, India needs a policy leap
The way to curb pollution is to tax carbon. Only then will households look for greener substitutes
•It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that air pollution is one of the biggest public concerns in India today. Its implications are many but just two will suffice here. A report of the Lancet Commission on pollution and health states that around 19 lakh people die prematurely every year from diseases caused by outdoor and indoor air pollution. A study by the Indian Journal of Pediatrics shows that the lungs of children who grow up in polluted environments like Delhi are 10% smaller compared to the lungs of children who grow up in the U.S. This is nothing short of a public health emergency. What is needed, therefore, is a comprehensive policy to curb pollution. We need to act now.
•At the heart of the problem of pollution are carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. About 75% of all greenhouse gas emissions are CO2 emissions produced through burning fossil fuels — oil, coal and natural gas — to generate energy. Since the early 2000s, carbon emissions have increased because of high growth in the Indian economy. In 2014, India’s total carbon emissions were more than three times the levels in 1990, as per World Bank data. This is because of India’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels and a dramatically low level of energy efficiency.
Remodel the energy mix
•Emissions can be curbed only if people are persuaded to move away from fossil fuels and adopt greener forms of energy. But how do we achieve that? Tax carbon, period.
•A part of the carbon revenue thus generated can be used for a systemic overhaul of the energy mix, which, to a large extent, would address the pressing problem of environmental degradation. The Indian economy’s energy mix needs to be remodelled through investments in clean renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and low-emissions bioenergy, and by raising the level of energy efficiency through investments in building retrofits, grid upgrades, and industrial efficiency. According to our estimates, this energy mix overhaul requires an additional 1.5% of GDP (to the current annual level of 0.6%) annually over the next two decades. Assuming that the Indian economy grows at 6% per annum and the population is likely to rise from 1.3 billion to 1.5 billion over the next two decades, the per capita emissions will still fall as a result of this policy, from the International Energy Agency’s 2035 Current Policy Scenario of 3.1 metric tonnes to 1.5 metric tonnes — a 52% decline. Since this expenditure is financed by the carbon tax revenue, it will be a revenue-neutral policy with no implications on the fiscal deficit.
•There is, however, a problem with carbon tax. It’s regressive in nature — it affects the poor more than the rich. Fortunately, there’s a way out. Economists in the West have argued for a ‘tax and dividend’ policy according to which the revenue thus generated is distributed equally across its citizens and as a result, the poor are more than compensated for the loss, since in absolute amounts the rich pay more carbon tax than the poor. Such a policy of cash transfer, which might work in the West, however, has a problem in the Indian context, which has been discussed in the context of the Right to Food debate.
•Instead of a cash transfer, the other part of the carbon revenue can be used for an in-kind transfer of free electricity to the population that contributes less carbon than the economy average, and universal travel passes to compensate for the rise in transport costs and to encourage the use of green public transport. Such a policy justly addresses the widening schism between Bharat, which bears the climate impact burden, and India, which is imposing that burden because of its lifestyle choices.
•As of 2014, more than 20% of India’s population did not have access to electricity. In July 2012, India experienced a blackout affecting roughly 70 crore people. Through this Right to Energy programme, every household in India will have access to electricity, a feat that almost all the governments since Independence have dreamt of but have failed to deliver. The free entitlement of fuel and electricity for a household works out to 189 kWh per month based on our calculations from the National Sample Survey data. Anything above this limit will be charged in full to control misuse of this policy. Travel passes with a pre-loaded balance amount of around ₹4,600 per household per annum, which can be used in any mode of public transport — private and government alike — will be available for every household.
•The level of carbon tax required for this policy to come into effect is ₹2,818 per metric tonne of CO2. It will be levied upstream, namely, at ports, mine-heads, and so on. While the prices of almost all the commodities will rise, the highest rise in price will be in fuel and energy since the carbon content is the highest in this category. To give an idea about the pinch that will be felt, the average price of electricity will rise from its current value of ₹3.73 to ₹4.67 per kWh.
Other benefits
•This policy not only curbs emissions but also delivers on providing more employment since the employment elasticity in greener forms of energy is higher than those in fossil fuel-based energy. Higher prices of commodities according to their carbon content will induce households, including the rich, to look for greener substitutes. They have the effect of enticing even the poor to move away from traditional forms of energy consumption because the price of energy will be zero for them (provided they consume less than the cut-off limit) as compared to a shadow positive price in terms of the time used for collection of wood or cow dung cakes. Availability of free energy also addresses the issue of stealing of electricity, since there will be no incentive left for those who steal. In India, even in 2014, the value of electricity stolen through corrupt means amounts to about 0.8% of GDP. It’s difficult to put a figure on the health benefits that such a policy will entail, but as a rough measure, a significant part of more than 3% of India’s GDP currently spent on pollution-induced diseases will surely come down.
•If we want to breathe to live, India needs to make such a policy leap.
📰 The power play in peacekeeping
Though Indian troops have led the way, the returns in UN power play have been low. The contrast with China is stark
•Media coverage of peacekeeping operations is an area with many gaps. Consider for example, an incident last week, where at least 15 peacekeepers and five soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) were killed and numerous peacekeepers wounded by armed militants in one of the worst attacks on United Nations personnel. A local Islamist extremist group overran the remote base. Most of the dead and wounded are from Tanzania. Was there any media coverage in India? It would have been a different story had they been troops from the West. In the midst of this, one must focus on China as its grip on UN affairs tightens and it starts deciding policy, to the detriment of India.
China rising
•Amid the buzz around Beijing taking centre stage in world affairs, the import of China’s deployment of its first peacekeeping helicopter unit in the peacekeeping mission in Darfur has been lost sight of. Having made a reluctant entry in peacekeeping, when it sent a small cadre of soldiers to Cambodia in 1992, Beijing has become the largest troop contributor among the permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC). More importantly, China is now the third-largest contributor to the UN’s regular budget and the second-largest contributor to the peacekeeping budget. News of any country supporting peacekeeping is good, but what does this portend in Beijing’s quest for great power status? In a September 2017 report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) says: “China’s participation in UN operations offers... a low-cost means of demonstrating their commitment to global stability... and allay(s) fears about its military and economic strength.” But is the picture that simple for India in geopolitical power play?
•The UN, especially the UNSC, is a blue-blooded political body, notwithstanding its charter of considering all countries as equals. In practice, a nation’s voice is in proportion to what it contributes towards the UN, especially funds — India’s contribution is only 0.737% when compared to China’s 7.92% and the U.S.’s 22%. Troop contributions to peacekeeping do not get their due in UN power politics. Having led a peacekeeping contingent, in 2005, I have seen first hand how pivotal posts in UN missions have always been with major fund contributors. China is indeed a part of the picture.
Veto power
•The CSIS report states that China has used its veto only 12 times, but two were cast where its economic interests were involved, like in Myanmar and Zimbabwe despite these being low on human rights records. What is more worrisome, however, is that two vetoes were also cast “over concerns over territorial integrity pertaining to Taiwan”. China was against sending UN peacekeepers to Guatemala and Macedonia because they had established diplomatic ties with Taiwan. When this self-serving act is linked with Beijing’s other recent coercive actions such as against Mongolia due to a Dalai Lama visit, and against Japan when it is said to have halted exports of rare minerals following the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain, the increasing front-lining of China in international affairs via the UN has an ominous ring.
•In 2015, China committed a standby force of 8,000 peacekeepers and a permanent police squad for UN operations. In addition, there is a 10-year $1 billion China-U.N. peace and development fund and $100 million in military assistance to the African Union. It is no coincidence that Africa is where China has large economic interests. Peacekeeping is said to be a cover for China to test its strengths in overseas deployments. The deployment of a People’s Liberation Army Navy submarine off the Africa coast for anti-piracy patrolling is totrain its seamen in long-distance operations.
Impacting India
•Chinese involvement in peacekeeping, along with its higher funding contributions will put Beijing in the driver’s seat in formulating peacekeeping mandates, thereby affecting India in more ways than one.
•Is India losing out despite having provided almost 200,000 troops in nearly 50 of the 71 UN peacekeeping missions over the past six decades? We have also sent scarce aviation assets including Canberra bombers to a UN Mission in Congo in the 1960s and helicopters to Somalia, Sierra Leone and Sudan. The truth is that though our troops have been on the front line of facing danger (168 soldiers lost in UN operations, till May 2017), the returns in UN power play have been low. It was perhaps not a troublesome issue until now considering India’s good relations with the other four permanent UNSC members, but will this continue with China rise in the UN, especially with U.S. President Donald Trump’s preoccupation elsewhere? Chinese opposition to India’s candidature for a UNSC seat and its repeated vetos on the Masood Azhar issue are unwelcome indicators.
•Peacekeeping missions are the raison d’etre of the UN and India’s generous contributions as far as peacekeeping troops are concerned should be key in its argument to have a greater say in the affairs of the UN. India must demand its pound of flesh.
📰 In an elite club: On India’s Wassenaar entry
Wassenaar Arrangement strengthens India’s credentials as a responsible nuclear power.
•India’s admittance into the Wassenaar Arrangement, a multilateral export control regime, as its 42nd participating member is a big step forward in its quest for formal acceptance as a responsible nuclear power. This has come a year after India made the request for membership. As a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), New Delhi has been at pains to convey to the international community that it adheres to, and is invested in, a rules-based order. The Wassenaar Arrangement was founded in 1996, and is clubbed with mechanisms such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Australia Group. Its stated aim is “to contribute to regional and international security and stability, by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, thus preventing destabilising accumulations.” India’s Wassenaar success at the Vienna plenary meeting last week presumes a broad acceptance among its members of the country’s credentials as a fastidious adherent to export controls. It comes on the heels of membership last year of the MTCR. Ever since India signed the 123 Agreement in 2005, the underlying assumption was that the United States would help chaperone New Delhi into global nuclear acceptability after it separated its civil and military nuclear programmes and plugged the loopholes to prevent diffusion of nuclear materials and technology in a way that is demonstrably in line with best practices followed by the members of the NSG.
•However, over the past couple of years it has become evident that Delhi has to do most of the heavy lifting to gain a seat at various global high tables. The Wassenaar Arrangement membership is also a lesson on the need for quiet diplomacy in sensitive nuclear issues, compared to the botched attempt to gain entry to the NSG last year. While India’s efforts at the NSG were stopped by China, which is not a member of the Wassenaar Arrangement, raising the pitch publicly at the time came with costs. It made the task of forging a consensus on membership to the NSG more difficult. And when that attempt failed, it gave the setback the appearance of being significantly more insurmountable. Nonetheless, now that more and more countries are signing on to India’s steadily strengthening credentials in the nuclear area, there is hope that a fresh momentum will be imparted to a future bid for the NSG. It will not be easy. The Australia Group, which focusses on biological and chemical weapons, may be easier to crack given that China is not a member. But meanwhile, the Wassenaar Arrangement will embed India deeper in the global non-proliferation architecture and enable access to critical technologies in the defence and space sectors.
📰 Need all-out push on terror: RIC
Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China call for talks on N. Korea, Ukraine
•Agreeing to uphold the rule of law in international affairs, Russia, India and China on Monday commended the victory of the Moscow-led counterterrorism operation in Syria.
•After the 15th trilateral meeting of the three Foreign Ministers held here under the RIC grouping, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Chinese and Russian counterparts Wang Yi and Sergey Lavrov urged for “Syrian-led, Syrian-owned” solution to the conflict and highlighted the need for dialogue to deal with the global “hotspots” such as North Korea and Ukraine.
•“We commend Russia-led counterterrorism efforts and achievements in Syria aimed at defeating international terrorism. We emphasise the achievements in Syria aimed at defeating international terrorism. We emphasise the need for a comprehensive approach in combating terrorism, and in this context resolve to step up cooperation to prevent and counter terrorism and radicalisation... stop sources of terrorist financing, prevent travelling of and the supply of arms to terrorists, dismantle terrorist infrastructure...” a joint communiqué issued after the meeting stated.
•The communiqué is significant as it came in the backdrop of Monday’s declaration of withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria by President Vladimir Putin as he declared success in the country. The trilateral meeting also came out with a post-conflict plan for Syria.
•The statement however did not name Pakistan-based terror groups and individuals like Hafiz Saeed of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) even as Mr. Lavrov indicated that a re-evaluation of Pakistan’s role in the war on terror was under way.
📰 No WTO deal without food security: India
‘Issue of public stockholding crucial’
•India has said it cannot envisage any negotiated outcome, at the ongoing meeting of the World Trade Organisation’s apex decision-making body, which does not include successful resolution of the food security right issue.
•In his address at the Plenary Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC) here on Monday, India’s commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu said, “… the permanent solution for public stockholding for food security purposes… is a matter of survival for 800 million hungry and undernourished people in the world.”
•He added, “A successful resolution of this issue would fulfil our collective commitment to the global community… we cannot envisage any negotiated outcome at the (Buenos Aires) MC, which does not include a permanent solution.” India has already made it clear that it will not accept a 'permanent solution' with onerous conditions that in turn make it very difficult for the (Indian) government or other developing countries to meet the food security needs of their people.
•Mr. Prabhu also said “India calls upon the WTO membership to re-endorse the centrality of development (the agenda to improve the trading prospects of developing nations) in WTO negotiations without creating new sub-categories of countries.”
•He said, “We are increasingly seeing that the discourse on development at the WTO is sought to be deflected by specious arguments based on aggregate GDP figures. While in India we are proud of our GDP and growth rates of recent years,... we cannot ignore that India is home to more than 600 million poor people.” The minister added that, therefore, “we (India) are legitimate demandeurs for special and differential treatment for developing countries.”
•This is in the context of attempts by certain rich countries to wreck the broad unity among developing nations on a host of issues, by suggesting that countries such as India and China are currently emerging economies and reasonably strong in trade -- unlike others in the developing world – and, therefore, such powerful nations that are still in the 'developing' category do not deserve to gain from the favourable treatment meant only for developing nations in WTO Agreements.
•Mr. Prabhu urged the entire WTO Membership to unequivocally reaffirm the importance of a rules-based multilateral trading system. He expressed “India's concern at the inordinate delay in appointment of new members to the (WTO’s) Appellate Body,” and said, “We need to collectively and expeditiously resolve this impasse.” This statement comes in the backdrop of criticism against the US for blocking the re-appointment of judges to the WTO’s Appellate Body — a move that many say would undermine the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Mechanism, which is recognised as a fundamental pillar of the organisation due to it being a ‘fair, effective and efficient mechanism to solve trade problems.’
‘No’ to ‘new issues’
•In addition, Mr. Prabhu opposed the endeavour of certain countries to include ‘new issues’ — such as e-commerce, investment facilitation and matters relating to small firms — in the ongoing Doha Round of negotiations (which started in 2001 with a 'development agenda'), without first resolving outstanding issues including those relating to food security.
•The Minister also pushed India’s proposal for a Trade Facilitation in Services (TFS) Agreement, which, among other things, aims to liberalise rules on movement of professionals and skilled workers across borders for temporary work/projects. “A work programme for Services including Domestic Regulation and some elements of India's TFS proposal, including Mode 4 (temporary movement of natural persons including professionals), can take the Services agenda forward,” he said.
Asymmetry in farm subsidy norms
•On agricultural domestic support, Mr. Prabhu said the WTO Agreement on Agriculture provides considerable flexibility to the developed members to provide huge subsidies and further, to concentrate these subsidies on a few products. “This asymmetry needs to be addressed as a first step in agricultural reform through a post-Buenos Aires work programme without, however, shifting the burden of reduction of agricultural subsidies to developing countries.”
•Regarding limiting harmful fisheries subsidies, the minister said, “We can agree to future work on this issue towards an outcome at the Ministerial Conference in 2019 that preserves the policy space for developing countries to support millions who depend on traditional fishing activity as the sole source of livelihood.” Lastly, he said, “at a time when the global trade environment is extremely fragile, let this Ministerial Conference be an occasion for concluding the unfinished agenda of the Doha Work Programme, and collectively strive to preserve and revitalize the WTO.”
📰 FRDI: ‘Depositors will be protected’
In case of bank failure, government will fully protect customers’ deposits, statement cites FM as saying
•Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has categorically asserted that depositors would be “fully protected” in the event of a bank failure, the third clarification the government has made on the issue in less than a week as it seeks to allay mounting concerns about a proposed ‘bail-in’ clause in a draft legislation on financial resolution.
•“The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley said that the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017 is before the Joint Committee of Parliament,” the Finance Ministry said in a statement on Monday. “Whatever are the recommendations of the Committee, the Government will consider them. But rumours are being spread about the Bill.”
•In the backdrop of criticism in the media and on social media about the ‘bail-in’ clause, which allows for the cancellation or modification of bank deposits to shore up bank finances, the Ministry of Finance had on December 7 issued a statement saying that the provisions of the FRDI Bill do not hurt depositors’ interests.
Committed to PSU banks
•“Mr. Jaitley said that the Government has already clarified and said it is committed to strengthen the PSU banks and the financial institutions,” the ministry added in its statement on Monday. “Removing any misgivings and rebutting false rumours being spread about the provisions of the FRDI Bill 2017, the Finance Minister said that about ₹2.11 lakh crore is being pumped in to strengthen the public sector banks. So no such question arises (regarding the failure of banks).”
•“If such a situation arises, deposits made by the customers, the Government will fully protect them. The Government is very clear about it,” Mr. Jaitley was cited as saying in the statement.
•The government could consider removing the controversial clause from the legislation if it was committed to protecting bank deposits in all eventualities, suggested a former banker.
•“If this is the intent of the government, to protect the deposits fully, then what is the need for the bail-in clause, they should just scrap it,” Sanjay Bhattacharya, former managing director at the State Bank of India said.
•“If the clause is included in the Bill, then one of the impacts will be on the price of gold, which will shoot up,” Mr. Bhattacharya added.
•“The provisions contained in the FRDI Bill, as introduced in the Parliament, do not modify present protections to the depositors adversely at all,” the ministry added in the statement. “They rather provide additional protections to the depositors in a more transparent manner.”
•Earlier, Mr. Jaitley had himself tweeted that the “objective of the Government is to fully protect the interest of the financial institutions and the depositors.”
📰 India hardens stand on e-commerce, investment and small firms
No to negotiations on binding rules in e-commerce; terms ‘investment facilitation and proposed norms on small firms’ as non-trade issues
•India has hardened its position at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) meeting here not only on issues relating to e-commerce, but also against investment facilitation as well as the proposed norms regarding participation of small firms in the global marketplace.
•On e-commerce, the issue pertains to a ‘moratorium’ that was included in the 1998 ‘Declaration on Global E-commerce,’ adopted by the WTO member nations in May 1998 at the global trade body’s second Ministerial Conference (MC). The MC is the WTO’s highest decision-making body.
•According to the WTO, the 1998 declaration on the ‘moratorium’ stated that “member countries will continue their current practice of not imposing customs duties on electronic transmission”. This ‘moratorium’ – which is ‘temporary’ in nature -- gets extended at every MC, which is held once in two years.
•However, at the ongoing Buenos Aires MC, India has taken a stand that its consent to extension of this ‘moratorium’ depends on the WTO members agreeing to certain conditions.
•In a communication to the WTO, India said its decision on the matter will be subject to the decision of the other WTO members to extend a similar (‘temporary’)moratorium on Non-Violation Complaints (NVC) under the TRIPS (Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property rights agreement). NVC refers to a situation where a “government can go to the WTO Dispute Settlement Body even when an agreement (of the WTO) has not been violated (by another country).”
•Some countries, particularly from the developed world, are demanding a ‘permanent moratorium’ on imposing customs duties on electronic transmissions. India feels that such a move could reduce the negotiating leverage for developing countries to seek a ‘permanent moratorium’ on NVC. Such a scenario would hurt the generic pharmaceuticals industry in the world, including in India. However, for the time being, WTO members have agreed not to use NVC, and this ‘temporary moratorium’ (agreement not to use NVC) keeps getting extended, like the one on electronic transmissions.
•India’s decision on granting its nod to moratorium on electronic transmissions will also be subject to other WTO members agreeing to continue the e-commerce discussions under a ‘Work Programme’ based on the existing mandate as well as guidelines in the relevant WTO bodies as set out in the Work Programme, the communication said. According to commerce minister Suresh Prabhu, “India’s view is that gains from e-commerce must not be confused with gains from negotiating binding rules in this area. It is for this reason that we support continuation of the 1998 Work Programme with its non-negotiating mandate.” On investment facilitation and the proposed norms on small firms, Mr. Prabhu said, “shifting the priority from the Doha Development Agenda issues to non-trade issues like Investment Facilitation and small firms, for which there is no mandate, is difficult to accept.”
📰 Nagaland’s tourism showpiece attracts record visitors
Hornbill Festival gets 2,43,214 visitors, more than twice last year
•The Hornbill Festival of Nagaland attracted a record 2,43,214 visitors this year, a sharp climb compared to the previous years, a government official said.
•Toka E. Tuccumi, an officer with the Department of Tourism, said a total of 2,43,214 visitors, including 2,401 foreign tourists, 38,700 domestic and 2,02,113 locals enjoyed the festival during the 10 days. The number of visitors this year was higher than last year’s total of 1,12,604 visitors by 1,30,610, he said.
10 days of festivities
•The 10-day festival, which is the annual showpiece tourism event of the State, was inaugurated on December 1 — coinciding with the 54th Statehood Day celebrations — by President Ram Nath Kovind.
•The festival concluded at the picturesque Naga Heritage Village, Kisama, on Sunday amid mega bonfires and the tunes of Naga war cry and beats of traditional log drums reverberating in the background.
•The massive turnout at the festival provided the visitors ample opportunity to take prized photos and getting a lowdown on some of the Naga cultural dances during the “Unity Dance” performed by the 17 tribes of the State.
•Nagaland Governor P.B. Acharya said, “The Hornbill festival is designed in such a manner that it coincides with Statehood Day celebrations, which gives an opportunity to all the Naga tribes to converge on one location to showcase the best of their tribal costumes, songs and dance.”
•Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Governor of Odisha S.C. Jamir, Governor of Arunachal Pradesh Brig. (retd) B.D. Mishra, Manipur CM N. Biren Singh, Arunachal CM Pema Khandu and Director General of Assam Rifles Lt. Gen. Shokin Chauhan were among the several dignitaries gracing the festival.
📰 Modified kiln a boon for bangle makers in Rajasthan
Freed them from toxic fumes causing respiratory diseases
•Technology has come to the aid of workers engaged in manufacturing of green bangles in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.
•The installation of a modified bangle kiln in Unch village, near Nadbai, has rescued them from toxic fumes which were earlier a major cause for respiratory diseases among them.
•Labourers belonging to the Kachera clan have been manufacturing and selling green-coloured glass bangles for several decades in eastern Rajasthan, as women wear them as an important symbol on auspicious occasions and during rituals.
•These workers have traditionally been fabricating kilns of mud and clay and using tudi, made of vestiges of mustard crop, as fuel for heating these furnaces. The oval-shaped kilns produce smoke and fumes in huge quantity as well as high flames caused by melting of glass.
•Bharatpur-based Lupin Foundation has taken an initiative for modernisation of conventional kilns with the assistance of the Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG) at Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
•The modified kiln does not allow emission of fumes and toxic gases and its firebricks protect workers despite the kiln’s temperature touching as high as 1,400 degree Celsius.
•Poisonous elements emitted by the conventional kilns, on the other hand, directly enter into the bodies of labourers and cause diseases like asthma and tuberculosis, besides reducing their average age to less than 45 years.
Less fuel consumption
•Lupin Foundation's Executive Director Sita Ram Gupta said on Monday that the modified kilns, with a high chimney for releasing fumes, would consume only 50% of the fuel used earlier and increase the bangle production twofold. With a comfortable seating arrangement for workers, their efficiency will also improve.
•An earlier initiative for fabrication of modern bangle kilns with white clay in collaboration with the State government’s Science and Technology Department did not completely resolve the issue of emission of fumes. Scientists from RuTAG visited the district recently and suggested modifications in kilns after studying their operations.
•The fabrication of modified kilns is likely to be taken up in a dozen other villages in the nearby tehsils. Mr. Gupta said it would have a favourable impact on the region's environment and promote the green bangles business in Unch village worth ₹2 crore every year, besides giving employment to more workers.
📰 SC notice to Kerala on contempt plea by Endosulfan victims
Petition alleges wilful disobedience by State administration
•The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a contempt of court petition filed by Endosulfan victims of Kerala for not complying with a January 2017 order of the court to disburse the entire compensation to all those who had been affected by the toxic pesticide within three months.
•A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra asked the State government to respond to the petition alleging “wilful disobedience” on the part of the Kerala government in complying with the Supreme Court order of January 10, 2017. The contempt petition arraigns Kerala Chief Secretary K.M. Abraham as party.
•Besides the plea to initiate contempt of court action, the victims from Kerala’s most affected northern district of Kasargod have urged the court to direct the Chief Secretary to “disburse ₹5 lakh to the petitioners and to all other families of Endosulfan victims in the State of Kerala forthwith.”
•The victims, represented by advocates Kaleeswaram Raj and Suvidutt M.S., said that even a list prepared by the State government of victims entitled to get ₹5 lakh compensation came to around 6,000 persons. But, they contend, that there are several or numerous more victims, who have not been included in this list and are unable to pay for medical care.
•These unnamed, forgotten victims continued to be in dire straits despite the Supreme Court order of January 10, which had specifically directed the State government “to release the entire undisbursed payment of compensation, quantified as ₹5 lakhs each, to all the affected persons, within three months from today.”
•“Thousands of children already lost their lives due to the non-availability of proper medical care. The economic backwardness of the area prevents the persons like petitioners from giving proper care to their children on time,” the contempt petition said.
•The State could not limit disbursement of the amount only to the persons included in the list maintained by it, the petition said.
•In January, the Kerala government said it had earmarked over ₹180 crore for payment of compensation to victims, some of whom were terminally ill, from the effects of the pesticide which was aerially sprayed on cashew plantations adjoining habitats where the victims were located. It had said the Endosulfan rehabilitation scheme, including a multi-specialty hospital, would ideally cost over ₹500 crore.
📰 For clean air, India needs a policy leap
The way to curb pollution is to tax carbon. Only then will households look for greener substitutes
•It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that air pollution is one of the biggest public concerns in India today. Its implications are many but just two will suffice here. A report of the Lancet Commission on pollution and health states that around 19 lakh people die prematurely every year from diseases caused by outdoor and indoor air pollution. A study by the Indian Journal of Pediatrics shows that the lungs of children who grow up in polluted environments like Delhi are 10% smaller compared to the lungs of children who grow up in the U.S. This is nothing short of a public health emergency. What is needed, therefore, is a comprehensive policy to curb pollution. We need to act now.
•At the heart of the problem of pollution are carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. About 75% of all greenhouse gas emissions are CO2 emissions produced through burning fossil fuels — oil, coal and natural gas — to generate energy. Since the early 2000s, carbon emissions have increased because of high growth in the Indian economy. In 2014, India’s total carbon emissions were more than three times the levels in 1990, as per World Bank data. This is because of India’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels and a dramatically low level of energy efficiency.
Remodel the energy mix
•Emissions can be curbed only if people are persuaded to move away from fossil fuels and adopt greener forms of energy. But how do we achieve that? Tax carbon, period.
•A part of the carbon revenue thus generated can be used for a systemic overhaul of the energy mix, which, to a large extent, would address the pressing problem of environmental degradation. The Indian economy’s energy mix needs to be remodelled through investments in clean renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and low-emissions bioenergy, and by raising the level of energy efficiency through investments in building retrofits, grid upgrades, and industrial efficiency. According to our estimates, this energy mix overhaul requires an additional 1.5% of GDP (to the current annual level of 0.6%) annually over the next two decades. Assuming that the Indian economy grows at 6% per annum and the population is likely to rise from 1.3 billion to 1.5 billion over the next two decades, the per capita emissions will still fall as a result of this policy, from the International Energy Agency’s 2035 Current Policy Scenario of 3.1 metric tonnes to 1.5 metric tonnes — a 52% decline. Since this expenditure is financed by the carbon tax revenue, it will be a revenue-neutral policy with no implications on the fiscal deficit.
•There is, however, a problem with carbon tax. It’s regressive in nature — it affects the poor more than the rich. Fortunately, there’s a way out. Economists in the West have argued for a ‘tax and dividend’ policy according to which the revenue thus generated is distributed equally across its citizens and as a result, the poor are more than compensated for the loss, since in absolute amounts the rich pay more carbon tax than the poor. Such a policy of cash transfer, which might work in the West, however, has a problem in the Indian context, which has been discussed in the context of the Right to Food debate.
•Instead of a cash transfer, the other part of the carbon revenue can be used for an in-kind transfer of free electricity to the population that contributes less carbon than the economy average, and universal travel passes to compensate for the rise in transport costs and to encourage the use of green public transport. Such a policy justly addresses the widening schism between Bharat, which bears the climate impact burden, and India, which is imposing that burden because of its lifestyle choices.
•As of 2014, more than 20% of India’s population did not have access to electricity. In July 2012, India experienced a blackout affecting roughly 70 crore people. Through this Right to Energy programme, every household in India will have access to electricity, a feat that almost all the governments since Independence have dreamt of but have failed to deliver. The free entitlement of fuel and electricity for a household works out to 189 kWh per month based on our calculations from the National Sample Survey data. Anything above this limit will be charged in full to control misuse of this policy. Travel passes with a pre-loaded balance amount of around ₹4,600 per household per annum, which can be used in any mode of public transport — private and government alike — will be available for every household.
•The level of carbon tax required for this policy to come into effect is ₹2,818 per metric tonne of CO2. It will be levied upstream, namely, at ports, mine-heads, and so on. While the prices of almost all the commodities will rise, the highest rise in price will be in fuel and energy since the carbon content is the highest in this category. To give an idea about the pinch that will be felt, the average price of electricity will rise from its current value of ₹3.73 to ₹4.67 per kWh.
Other benefits
•This policy not only curbs emissions but also delivers on providing more employment since the employment elasticity in greener forms of energy is higher than those in fossil fuel-based energy. Higher prices of commodities according to their carbon content will induce households, including the rich, to look for greener substitutes. They have the effect of enticing even the poor to move away from traditional forms of energy consumption because the price of energy will be zero for them (provided they consume less than the cut-off limit) as compared to a shadow positive price in terms of the time used for collection of wood or cow dung cakes. Availability of free energy also addresses the issue of stealing of electricity, since there will be no incentive left for those who steal. In India, even in 2014, the value of electricity stolen through corrupt means amounts to about 0.8% of GDP. It’s difficult to put a figure on the health benefits that such a policy will entail, but as a rough measure, a significant part of more than 3% of India’s GDP currently spent on pollution-induced diseases will surely come down.
•If we want to breathe to live, India needs to make such a policy leap.
📰 ISRO developing a compact launcher for small satellites
Will be capable of putting 500-600 kg satellites in orbits
•A low-cost small satellite launcher could be the next item on the menu of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
•Preliminary work to design and develop an ambitious small launch vehicle began about three months ago, said K. Sivan, Director of ISRO’s rocket development node, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Its design will enable a handful of engineers to assemble it within a week. And the launcher should be able to put satellites of up to 500-600 kg in orbits close to the Earth.
•VSSC has designed the vehicle using the rocket technology that it already has and is awaiting ISRO’s approval. “We are looking at having a demonstration launch in a year, in the 2018-19 time frame,” Dr. Sivan told The Hindu.
•The development cost would be kept low at a few crore as the new launcher’s requirement of advanced electronics is considerably lower.
•It could also tremendously cut the launch fee that customers would have to pay. Which is what all space agencies aim at: low-cost access to space, as they call it.
•Since 1999, ISRO’s PSLV rockets have launched 209 small satellites from 28 countries for a fee; they have been for experimental, university or remote-sensing uses. In February this year, a PSLV carried a record 104 satellites to space. The next one planned in January 2018 will carry some 30 small customer satellites to space — their weights ranging from 1 kg to 100 kg.
Easy to assemble
•Today, it takes 300-plus engineers and about 40 days to assemble a PSLV. A small launcher that can be got up perhaps in three days by a small team would make a big difference in the market as well as to the launch provider, according to Dr. Sivan. For one, satellite operators need not wait one or two years to launch their spacecraft. In shared space rides, satellites going on the same rocket must have compatible sizes and shapes. The thinking, he said, is why waste a big vehicle for a small job?
•Secondly, a ride on small launchers could even be a ninth or tenth of the present cost. ISRO, he said, will not be the first to think of a small launcher. “Globally, the small satellites market is booming as they are used for various applications. Some of ISRO’s satellites are also going to reduce in mass. As such, worldwide, operators and private players are developing small launchers to capture the market at a much lower cost,” he explained.
•Global space industry consulting firm Euroconsult estimated in July that 6,200 smallsats — many of them constellations — would be launched during 2017-2026 and touch a market value of $30 billion — up from $8.9 billion in the last decade.
📰 Manipur beefs up security along border
To prevent illegal migrants entering from Bangladesh, Myanmar
•Following directives from the Union Home Ministry, the Manipur government has beefed up security measures along border areas to check infiltration of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and the Rohingya from Myanmar.
New police stations
•Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, who also holds the Home charge, said: “We have opened a police station at Kotha, near the Manipur-Myanmar border. New police stations have been opened at Behang bordering Mizoram, Jessami bordering Nagaland and Borobekra bordering Assam. Additional police personnel have been rushed.”
•He also said that six bamboo bridges across the Jiri river bordering Assam were demolished by the police in order to prevent illegal migrants from Assam from crossing over.
•Safeguards for locals
•Of late students and women activists in the State have been rounding up undocumented persons who were later handed over to the police. Locals have been agitating for years for the implementation of the Inner Line Permit system in Manipur to regulate the entry and stay of outsiders. It is in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland. The President had declined to sign one Bill passed by the Assembly while the Centre did not consider two others.
‘Acceptable to all’
•The Chief Minister said a committee will soon be set up to draft a Bill on the ILP system which should be acceptable to all communities in Manipur. Some sections of tribal people had objected to the earlier Bills, terming them as “anti-tribal”.
📰 Govt. sets up NIC-CERT centre to detect, prevent cyberattacks
NIC’s networks handle 500 GB of data at given point in time
•The Centre on Monday unveiled the NIC-CERT centre that would monitor and help in early detection and mitigation of cyberattacks on government networks.
•“All communications between government departments — Centre, State and district, as well as interactions between the government and the citizens takes place through NIC’s network,” said Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.
•“The NIC-CERT will help us in our pursuit of a safe cyberspace by early detection of any attack on India’s systems,” he said.
•NIC’s (National Informatics Centre) networks handle about 500 GB of data at any given point in time.
•NIC-CERT currently has a team of about 30 cybersecurity professionals working in two shifts. This is in addition to the more than 300 people in the cybersecurity team who already work at the NIC, NIC Director General Neeta Verma said.
Working in tandem
•NIC-CERT will operate in close co-ordination and collaboration with other sectoral CERTs and more so with CERT-In, she added.
•The government had already announced setting up of sectoral CERTs (computer emergency response teams) for sectors such as finance and power.
•“Using various tools, the team at NIC-CERT will be able to identify vulnerabilities and possible exploits and the intelligence gathered will give CERT the ability to predict and prevent attacks.” Mr. Prasad added.
•It will also alert the concerned parties concerned in case it detects any malicious activity. “Any unusual movement on the NIC network, any attacks, intrusions will be detected and cleaned,” he said.
•The minister also said that he has called a meeting of all state IT ministers in January which will mainly focus on the issue of cybersecurity and safety. “The role of the state governments has to be expanded in the area of cybersecurity. The centre and the states have to work together,” he said.
