📰 Sign off on Paris Rulebook, says BASIC
Bhupender Yadav articulates view of Brazil, South Africa, India and China at Glasgow conference
•On the opening day of the 26th United Nations Conference of Parties (COP), Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav delivered a statement on behalf of the BASIC group of countries — Brazil, South Africa, India and China — at the U.N. Climate Change Conference under way in Glasgow.
•These major developing economies are significant polluters but bear diminished responsibility for the carbon dioxide that has been pumped into the atmosphere since 1850 and also have low per capita emissions because of their significant populations.
•These countries have therefore for many years sought to rebuff pressure from developed countries to take on firmer emission reductions.
•Mr. Yadav said a key demand of the BASIC was that the Paris Agreement Rulebook be concluded at COP26.
•While the Paris Agreement laid out the framework for international action, the Rulebook will set this Agreement in motion by laying out the tools and processes to enable it is implemented fairly and properly.
•Countries had agreed to develop and finalise the Paris Rulebook at COP24 in Poland in 2018.
•“In doing so, full effect must be given to implementation of the principles of Equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and, recognition of the very different national circumstances of Parties,” Mr. Yadav said in his written statement and underlined that developing countries must be accorded time, policy space and support to transition towards a low emissions future.
•Mr. Yadav reiterated BASIC demands that he has also spelt out in India that COP26 must aim for higher global ambition on climate finance and adaptation as well, along with recognition of the Parties’ differing historical responsibilities and the developmental challenges faced by developing countries, compounded by the pandemic.
•In the statement, Mr. Yadav recalled the “bottom-up nature” of the Paris Agreement and the freedom of Parties to determine their NDCs and progressively update them based on the outcomes of the Global Stocktake cycle — that specifies the actual progress made by countries so far in mitigating emissions — and as per national circumstances and call of science.
•The latest available science makes it clear that all Parties need to immediately contribute their fair share and achieving this would require developed countries to rapidly reduce their emissions and dramatically scale-up their financial support to developing countries.
The manual has details of identification of the species, on-site and off-site operations
•The Jal Shakti Ministry on Monday released a guide for the safe rescue and release of stranded Ganges River Dolphins. The document has been prepared by the Turtle Survival Alliance, India Program and Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department (EFCCD), Uttar Pradesh. The guide has been drawn from years of experience of the organisation while rescuing 25 Ganges River Dolphins (GRDs) stranded in irrigation canals.
•The GRDs have been designated the National Aquatic Animal of India since 2010 and are listed as ‘Endangered’ under IUCN Red List Assessments, Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act (1972), Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Entrapped in canals
•The species, whose global population is estimated at 4,000, are (nearly 80%) found in the Indian subcontinent. They often accidentally enter canal channels in northern India and are often entrapped, and die as they are unable to swim up against the gradient, eventually getting stressed and harassed by the locals.
•The manual, endorsed by the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group, has details of identification of the species and on-site and off-site operations. The off-site operations include permit and equipment while on-site involves crowd control, capture and handling, transfer, transport and release.
•“Found throughout the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India and Bangladesh, the Ganges River Dolphin [Platanista gangetica gangetica] is a global priority and is also an indicator of healthy aquatic systems,” said Shailendra Singh, director of TSA India Program. Only three species of freshwater dolphins are remaining on the earth after the functional extinction of the Chinese river Dolphin (Baiji) in 2006. The guide was also simultaneously released via local fishermen at the Ghaghra river, a prime habitat where most of the rescued dolphins were released in the past few years.
•The document says the GRD faces many threats in the Ganga Basin. “Dwindling populations can be attributed to wide-scale habitat degradation from pollution, hydroelectric and development projects and industrial run-off, as well as accidental deaths via entanglement in fishing nets or by villagers from curiosity, opportunistic poaching for meat and oil in certain pockets of the country,” the document added.
📰 CoP26 summit | India will achieve net zero emissions by 2070, says PM Modi
50% of energy will be sourced via renewable route by 2030, he tells COP26
•India will achieve net zero emissions latest by 2070, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the COP26 summit in Glasgow on Monday.
•Until Monday, India was the only major emitter that hadn't committed to a timeline to achieve net zero, or a year by which it would ensure its net carbon dioxide emissions would be zero.
•By 2030 India will ensure 50% of its energy will be sourced from renewable energy sources. India will reduce its carbon emissions until 2030 by a billion tonnes. India will also reduce its emissions intensity per unit of GDP by less than 45%. India would also install 500 Gigawatt of renewable energy by 2030, a 50 gw increase from its existing targets, Prime Minister said.
•He added that in the spirit of climate justice, rich developed countries ought to be providing at least $1 trillion in climate finance to assist developing countries and those most vulnerable.
•Mr. Modi's statements were in contrast to India's run-up to the COP where it had strongly resisted demands by developed countries to take on net zero targets. Several delegations from the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union had called upon Indian officials in previous weeks to coax such a agreement out of India. Achieving net zero by 2050, scientists say, is the world's best shot at keeping temperatures from rising above 1.5C of Pre Industrial levels.
•Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav had on Sunday said that principles of Equity and Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and, recognition of the very different national circumstances of countries be respected. Taking on net zero targets, requires a sharp shift to clean energy sources that several experts have opined, will impose a steep cost.
•Earlier speaking a a side-event at the COP, Mr Modi said there hasn't been as much focus on climate adaptation as much as mitigation and that is an injustice against developing nations.
•There are changes in cropping patterns, there are floods and a great need to make agriculture resilient to these shocks, he added.
•Mr Modi said sustainable modes of living being practised in certain traditional communities ought to be made part of school curricula and the lessons from India's efforts at adaptation in programmes such as Jal Jeevan mission, Swach Bharat mission and mission ujwala ought to be popularized globally.
•“I want to congratulate PM Modi and India for making a bold statement for low-carbon development. India has clearly put the ball in the court of the developed world. This is real climate action. Now, India demands $1 trillion of climate finance as soon as possible and will monitor not just climate action, but deliver climate finance. Most importantly, India has called, once again, for a change in lifestyles. If we cannot fix how we live, we cannot fix how we live on this planet." -Dr Arunabha Ghosh, CEO and Founder, Council for Energy Environment and Water, a think tank.
📰 Time for action: On the G20 summit and the global political economy
The G20 meeting has come at a critical moment for the global political economy
•At their first in-person meeting in two years, leaders of the G20 did not shy away from re-engaging with the biggest issues facing the global community today, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, a major tax agreement, and steps to address concerns regarding global economic growth and stability. On coordinated efforts to mitigate the pandemic, the focus was on vaccine production and distribution, with assurances of support to WHO’s target of inoculating 40% or more of the global population against COVID-19 by 2021, and at least 70% by mid-2022. The implicit assumption in this commitment by G20 leaders is that initiatives to boost the supply of vaccines in developing countries will succeed, and cooperation will help the world overcome supply and financing constraints. On climate change, the Group leaders recommitted their nations to providing $100 billion a year toward adaptation, mitigation, and green technologies, focusing on the needs of developing countries. However, in this sphere, a divergence of views still exists across developing and developed nations: ahead of this summit and the 2021 climate conference in Glasgow, India had rejected the call to announce a target of zero emissions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to have scored a victory in this regard as the post-summit communiqué commits the G20 to limiting global warming to 1.5° C and identified sustainable and responsible consumption and production as “critical enablers”.
•The world community is on shakier footing regarding the fragile post-COVID economic recovery underway after paralysing lockdowns. Unsurprisingly, given the rising inflation, spiking energy prices, and alarming supply chain bottlenecks, G20 leaders were quick to affirm that national stimulus policies would not be removed prematurely. Even so, it would remain a challenge to walk the tightrope between preserving financial stability and fiscal sustainability. Perhaps in a bid to avoid potentially debilitating wobbles in global finance, the G20 leadership agreed to slap multinationals with a minimum 15% tax to create “a more stable and fairer international tax system”. This would impact the tech titans of Silicon Valley, as this initiative would make it harder for such companies to benefit from locating themselves in relatively lower-tax jurisdictions. This OECD-led reform enjoys the support of 136 countries, which account for more than 90% of global GDP, and is likely to enter into force in 2023 or after. Nations such as the U.S. are divided on whether to approve this proposal domestically, and unless there is unanimity amongst the discussants, the initiative risks facing implementation delays. The G20 meeting has come at a critical moment for the global political economy. If it results in timely, effective, coordinated action across major nations, hope for recovery will remain afloat.
📰 Kashmir’s fragility has more complex reasons
To limit what is happening in J&K solely to the impetus created by a Talibanised Afghanistan could cost India dear
•Fear is the prevailing sentiment across many parts of Kashmir today. It has, in turn, led to comparisons with the situation that existed during the 1990s and the early years of the 21st century. In the past few weeks, several civilians as well as security and armed forces personnel, have been killed by terrorists, some of the latter being labelled as hybrid terrorists, though it is not clear what this phrase signifies.
Ground realities
•A predictable reaction to the situation has been the exodus of Hindus, especially of the Kashmiri Pandits, and of migrant labour, fearing for their lives and their future. Side by side with this, an impression has been created of increasing support to militancy, though it is unclear whether this is indeed the case. However, as in all situations of this kind, it is apparent that impressions often appear more real than actual ground realities.
•Latterly, Kashmir had managed to stay away from the headlines despite concerns expressed in different quarters about the ‘disciplined democracy’ being practised ever since the dilution of Article 370 and the restructuring of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) into two Union Territories. In the absence of an agile press, it has not been possible to fathom the intensity of protests against the existing order, and whether they constitute a rejection of the changes effected.
•Incidents of violence have, however, continued. Notwithstanding this, given the hullabaloo in the immediate aftermath of the changes effected in August 2019, a degree of surface calm seemed to prevail, not very different from that which existed previously. Whether this was peace brought about through controlled conditions, or otherwise, has been difficult to discern.
•Given the recent recrudescence of violence, it is, nevertheless, evident that the situation remains fragile. Whether this means that the changes effected since August 2019 were merely a ‘triumph of wishfulness over prudence’, an overestimation of belief on what was possible ignoring the history of several decades past, and the failure of many previous attempts to change the status quo, is hence worth examining.
Pakistan apart
•More important is what could possibly be the reasons for the revival of aggravated violence in Kashmir. While assessing the ground situation in Kashmir, Pakistan has always tended to be a factor. It is, however, again possible that the lessons of the past on what needed to be done — to effectively checkmate insurgency from across the border or inflame Kashmiri opinion — might have gone unheeded in the euphoria of having succeeded in altering the character of J&K and Delhi establishing a degree of direct control. Promises made and an unwillingness to use the time and opportunity to create fresh opportunities for dialogue with communities in Kashmir, allied with reputational interest in not accepting that the many steps taken, were inadequate to defeat the machinations from across the border, could also, perhaps, be additional reasons.
•By this reckoning, Kashmir might well seem, in some remote way, to reveal the same attitude as many post-conflict, pre-modern, hybrid societies with mixed populations. It would imply that in the case of Kashmir, making a transformation to a more stable society will always prove difficult. In addition, Kashmir has difficult neighbours such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and China, which leaves little scope for experimentation — a true test for decision-making of any kind.
•As violence escalated in J&K, it became commonplace to link it with the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. This could, however, be a highly simplistic answer to a more complex situation. In the current context, geopolitics is something that cannot and must not be ignored. The sudden surge in violence in Kashmir needs a more careful evaluation of the facts rather than simplistic answers. It is a fact, for instance, that India’s world view has steadily expanded, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, and several, including some relatively unknown, tension points have emerged. All these will need to be carefully assessed before coming up with an answer — more so since India is wedged between two known antagonists (Pakistan and China), has a Talibanised Afghanistan as its neighbour, and there has been a resurgence of international terror groups, notably the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.
The China factor
•Of particular consequence in this context is China’s continuing cooperation with Pakistan in many matters, its growing assertiveness in regard to its territorial claims, vis-à-vis India, its opposition to the prominence given to India by the West in both Asian and global forums, etc. All these have further helped cement the nexus between China and Pakistan. Intertwined with this is again the battle raging for spheres of influence between China and India, which has intensified under China’s President Xi Jinping. The latter is intent on establishing an Asian system in which China sits at the summit of a hierarchical regional order. All this is altering the ground realities and it is worth considering whether Kashmir is emerging as a pressure point in this context.
Intelligence is critical
•What it all boils down to is the need for hard and better intelligence. Hard intelligence is critical to avoid misperceptions and miscalculations. The (recent) history of the world is replete with stories of intelligence failures, misperceptions and miscalculations, which had led to grave situations, and which might well have been avoided had there been better intelligence. The serious miscalculation about Iraqi President Saddam Hussein possessing nuclear weapons based on wrong intelligence led to unnecessary involvement by the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Iraq, followed by an unfortunate train of events that continues to haunt the world to this day. As tensions between India and China, and between India and Pakistan, intensify, the need for hard intelligence is thus vital to be able to control the train of events and avoid any serious miscalculations.
•What is common to most, perhaps all, intelligence agencies — irrespective of their degrees of competence — is their limited capacity for imagination, viz., to imagine future events and possibilities. Intelligence agencies, by and large, are adept at providing insights about yesterday’s threats rather than future ones, specially those that exist just beyond the horizon. Moreover, as intelligence agencies become more wedded to technology, they need to realise that advances in technology tend to be a double-edged sword insofar as intelligence is concerned. It should not negate the need for improved analysis and also how important it is to provide decision-makers with information on what is taking place in the minds of their opposite numbers.
•In the extant situation, Indian intelligence agencies must avoid the kind of lapses of both imagination and analysis displayed by western intelligence agencies some years ago, who misread, misunderstood and failed to anticipate the role of Sayyid Qutb and his preachings which later set the stage for the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York and other targets in the U.S. Had they understood what Sayyid Qutb preached, viz., that martyrdom was a necessary part of 20th century jihad, they would not have underestimated the influence exerted by Islamist theology on the terrorist mindset.
•It is, thus, important that the ‘missing dimensions’ of intelligence in most cases, viz., thinking imaginatively and improved analytical capabilities, receive the close attention of India’s intelligence agencies. Only then will it be possible to understand the nature of current events as a precursor of future threats. This is important to ensure that they do not ignore signals that may not be all too obvious at this time, and keep chasing more obvious and current aspects. Too narrowly focussed intelligence requirements, limited to current events such as, for example, tensions with China on the border, or Pakistan’s attempts to push in ‘irregulars’ and aid the Lashkar and Jaish elements to cross over into India, may prove self-defeating. The arc of intelligence needs to be much wider and Indian intelligence agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau, the Research & Analysis Wing as also the National Security Council Secretariat should ensure that they have the necessary capabilities.
•Linked to this is also the danger of ‘intelligence adjustment’, viz., avoiding challenging conventional assumptions, which could undermine their ability to provide a more accurate picture of the larger threat. Today, when India faces problems all around it, to limit what is happening in Kashmir solely to the impetus created by a Talibanised Afghanistan without fully analysing all the facts could cost the country dear.
📰 Why counting caste matters
Caste data will help us understand the contours of inequality and craft reasoned and inclusive policies
•The debate about whether the decennial Census should collect data on caste from individuals who fall into the administrative categories of ‘General’ and ‘Other Backward Classes’ (OBCs) has been argued by public intellectuals, politicians, and government administrators for decades. As the Census currently only collects data on ‘Scheduled Castes’ (SCs) and ‘Scheduled Tribes’ (STs), it fails to provide comprehensive data on India’s graded caste hierarchy. In the run-up to the 2011 Census, the political leadership agreed to include a full caste count in the Census. It later prevented a caste-wise enumeration in the Census. The suppression of caste-wise data took place then because of two interconnected dynamics which are likely to reoccur unless they are collectively challenged.
The importance of caste data
•First, caste elites generally believe that caste no longer matters in shaping opportunities and outcomes in the 21st century. This caste blindness, or castelessness, obscures caste privileges and conceals sources of multi-generational structural advantage. Many caste elites view the collection of caste data about anyone but the most disadvantaged as unnecessary and a misuse of public resources. This perspective both serves their own interests and ignores the relational nature of caste — that is, the same societal institutions, systems, and cultural norms that have led to historic and ongoing subjugation of oppressed castes have simultaneously empowered others. To understand the full scope of disadvantage, we must also examine the full scope of privilege and advantage.
•The suppression also occurred as a result of the machinery of government. Organisations tasked with designing Census questions and overseeing data collection, similar to every other key institution in society, have caste-based inequalities entrenched within them. The bureaucracy blocked the inclusion of a full caste count in the Census 2011 on methodological grounds. It argued that a caste count would be “administratively difficult and cumbersome,” “jeopardise the whole exercise,” and “compromise the basic integrity of the Census”. The official language used by the Congress-led government in 2011 was identical to the language used in the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on September 23, 2021 by the present BJP-led government. The presentation of (supposedly) insurmountable methodological and logistical challenges is particularly effective as an excuse because it silences non-experts. Caste elites have a numerical and cultural stranglehold over the upper bureaucracy, despite more than 70 years of Central
government reservations. In 2019, out of the 82 Secretaries to the Government of India, only four were SCs or STs. Among 457 serving secretaries, joint secretaries, and additional secretaries, merely 12% were SCs and OBCs; similarly, group 1/A of the Central Civil Services (i.e., the top tier of the bureaucracy) has still not fulfilled its reservation quotas for SCs and OBCs. Following the suppression of the caste count in Census 2011, the executive bureaucracy reconfigured the Below Poverty Line survey and renamed it the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census, which had little resemblance to the original demands by caste census advocates and produced unusable caste data.
•The purpose for collecting caste-wise data in the decennial Census is to understand the contours of inequality. These data are crucial to understand how caste intersects with class, gender, and regionality to structure access to resources. The collected caste data should be publicly available for use. In this regard, the caste data would continue the existing practice of the Office of the Registrar General of India to make Census data publicly available. The Census has the legal standing, public trust, operational expertise, and resources to collect, analyse, and make public caste data. Caste data must be collected as part of this constitutionally required exercise. Having the caste Census as part of another state project, or overseen by nodal agencies other than the ORGI, as happened 10 years ago, will relegate it to parts of the bureaucracy with insufficient expertise in a nationwide data collection operation.
•While counting (or not counting) caste is political, the decision should not be reduced to immediate political contingencies i.e., the expansion of reservation policies, the caste-based mobilisation by political parties, etc. In the absence of detailed caste data, we fail to name and confront major structural and foundational problems of society; leave space for opportunistic politicians to exploit each caste; and miss the opportunity to craft reasoned, data-driven, and inclusive public policies.
Addressing concerns
•Yet, important concerns remain. Some progressive and anti-caste scholars fear that a full-caste count will further entrench caste identities. A caste census will require all households to think about, acknowledge, and speak about caste identities. Yet, historically outcast groups have already had to provide caste data in all postcolonial Censuses to implement reservations. A full caste-wise enumeration will help to make visible privileges and resources that have become over time disassociated with caste, despite historical, sociological, and economic evidence to the contrary. Updated data on the entire caste system, including its intersections with other identities, will provide a more complete picture of exclusion and inequality in India.
•Another concern is that groups will misuse the caste data. But misuse of caste data already takes place. Private groups with access to money and power regularly collect caste data for their needs. Political parties map the caste and religious composition of neighborhoods, cities, and villages to mobilise votes. Collecting caste data in the decennial Census removes this private power by making caste data publicly available to all.
•While methodological and logistical challenges are real, they are surmountable. Demographers in government agencies and universities have extensive experience working through these challenges. Sample surveys such as the India Human Development Survey have collected caste-wise data. Census bureaus in the U.S., Brazil, and South Africa, as well as in other countries with long histories of white supremacy, collect detailed data on race and class to understand the current scope of inequality and develop justice-oriented policies. In addition, research on the failed caste count suggests the importance of careful planning to prevent groups from being made invisible in the data, such as Dalit Muslims, Dalit Christians, inter-caste and inter-religious households (particularly those that cut across the line of ‘untouchability’ or communal divide), and LGBTQ+ individuals. Related to the discussion of castelessness, if a ‘no caste’ option is included in the Census, the caste count will likely undercount well-to-do caste elites. Given the purpose of the caste count, omissions of marginalised groups and elites require specific attention while designing the survey instrument, training enumerators, educating the public, and analysing collected caste-wise data. Hence, the entire process requires external oversight if the data are to be usable and to minimise potential harm. As the process unfolds, a public oversight group should work to ensure that major operational and methodological decisions align with the data collection’s purpose: to understand the scope of caste-based inequities and address structural inequalities. Anti-caste organisations and public intellectuals, who have devoted their life’s work to challenging caste hierarchy, must provide oversight and input. Their perspectives and lived experiences of fighting caste oppression are the best safeguards to ensure that the collected data will be used for liberatory purposes.
📰 Finding a way out of India’s deepening water stress
In any new National Water Policy, the aim should also be to encourage conserving water resources and efficient usage
•The complexity and scale of the water crisis in India calls for a locus specific response, that can galvanise and integrate the ongoing work of different Ministries and Departments through new configurations. Such an integrated approach must necessarily cut across sectoral boundaries and not stop at the merger achieved between the two Ministries of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, which led to the formation of the Ministry of Jal Shakti in 2019.
Understanding sources used
•Seeing India’s looming water crisis through the locus of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ not only allows a better grasp of the causative factors but also enables a stronger grip on the strategies to be deployed to reverse the water crisis. Fundamental to this is a preliminary understanding of the sources from which the country draws water to meet its varying needs. In the rural areas, 80%-90% of the drinking water and 75% of the water used for agriculture is drawn from groundwater sources. In urban areas, 50%-60% of the water supply is drawn from groundwater sources, whereas the remaining is sourced from surface water resources such as rivers, often located afar, in addition to lakes, tanks and reservoirs.
•According to the composite water management index released by the think tank NITI Aayog in 2019, 21 major cities (including Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad) were on the brink of exhausting groundwater resources, affecting about 100 million people. The study also points out that by 2030, the demand for water is projected to be twice the available supply.
The Chennai example
•A significant, and by no means less worrying, example of the water crisis that unfolded before our eyes was in Chennai in 2019, where life came to a standstill and parts of the city went without piped water for months. Though this may well have been forgotten, Chennai remains a spectacle of the impending tragedies brought about by the city’s inability to meet the basic needs of citizens, vis-à-vis drinking water, cooking and sanitation.
•A closer look at the factors that brought about the water crisis in Chennai is inescapable, should we gain a better grasp of the underlying problems, especially as this was a city which among others like Mumbai had suffered from floods previously. Many have cited the poor rainfall received in Chennai in the previous year as one of the main reasons for the water crisis. Though it is true that rainfall was low, which was 50% less than normal, focusing on this factor alone would absolve responsibility by blaming the vagaries of the rainfall patterns to a fast-changing climate, without understanding the ground-level steps (or missteps) which have been equally responsible factors.
•Chief among these is that the city has been built by incrementally encroaching floodplains and paving over lakes and wetlands that would have otherwise helped the process of recharging groundwater. The lack of space for water to percolate underground prevented rainwater from recharging the aquifers.
•This was further exacerbated by the loss of green cover (which would have otherwise helped water retention) to make way for infrastructure projects. Such a situation, on the one hand, leads to flooding during normal rainfall due to stagnation, and on the other hand leads to drought-like conditions due to the prevention of underground water storage. It is only that this situation was more magnified in Chennai, but other cities in India would echo these manifestations in varying degrees owing to a lack of sustainable urban planning.
•There is also the example, in Mumbai, in 2019, when 2,141 trees were felled at the Aarey colony, amid massive protests, to make space for a shed for the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Need for synergy
•If the Government is serious about addressing the water crisis in urban areas, the Ministry of Water Resources must reconfigure its relationship with other Ministries and Departments (Urban Development, Local Self-Government and Environment). This would be for enhanced integration and coordination through effective land and water zoning regulations that protect urban water bodies, groundwater sources, wetlands and green cover while simultaneously working to enhance waste water recycling and water recharge activities targeting aquifers and wells through rainwater harvesting.
Lessons from rural Punjab
•In rural areas, the situation is no different, as the acute water crisis in Punjab shows. The draft report of the Central Ground Water Board concluded that Punjab would be reduced to a desert in 25 years if the extraction of its groundwater resources continues unabated; 82% of Punjab’s land area has seen a huge decline in groundwater levels, wherein 109 out of 138 administrative blocks have been placed in the ‘over exploited’ category. Groundwater extraction which was at 35% in the 1960s and 1970s, rose to 70% post the Green Revolution — a period which saw governments subsidising power for irrigation that left tubewells running for hours.
•Concomitantly, cultivation of water intensive crops such as paddy have further aggravated water depletion, even turning water saline. Immediate measures need to be taken to manage and replenish groundwater, especially through participatory groundwater management approaches with its combination of water budgeting, aquifer recharging and community involvement.
•Such an approach to water conservation again beckons new configurations between sectors and disciplines. At the sectoral level, the Ministries and Departments of water resources must coordinate efforts with their counterparts in agriculture, the environment and rural development for greater convergence to achieve water and food security. At the disciplinary level, governance and management should increasingly interact and draw from the expertise of fields such as hydrology (watershed sustainability), hydrogeology (aquifer mapping and recharge) and agriculture sciences (water-sensitive crop choices and soil health). Again, the importance given to groundwater conservation should not ignore surface water conservation including the many rivers and lakes which are in a critical and dying state due to encroachment, pollution, over-abstraction and obstruction of water flow by dams.
Protecting resources
•The Ministry of Jal Shakti, last year, had announced an ambitious plan to provide water connections to every household in India by 2024. In view of the ongoing erosion of water resources and an ever-increasing demand for water, the thrust should not be on promising water supply. Instead the aim should be towards protecting and conserving water resources on the one hand and minimising and enhancing efficiency of water usage on the other. As the expert committee constituted under the Union Water Resources Ministry drafts a new National Water Policy, one hopes it would be rooted in locus specific realities and allows greater flexibility for integrating the insights and work of multiple departments and disciplines making way for new configurations to sustainably manage the country’s water resources.
📰 The crypto conundrum
Cryptocurrencies possess no significant use value or exchange value to sustain their current high prices
•Bitcoin and other private cryptocurrencies have been on a bull run recently. Unlike previous rallies, the current rally in bitcoin has witnessed the increasing participation of retail investors in India. Since 2020, when the Supreme Court overturned an order by the Reserve Bank of India dated April 6, 2018, restricting the use of cryptocurrencies, traffic in domestic cryptocurrency exchanges in India has grown many-fold. Yet, the future of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is unlikely to be as bright as many believe it to be.
A case of speculative mania?
•The most important feature of cryptocurrencies that is flaunted by their enthusiasts is their limited supply. In a world where central banks create a lot of money out of thin air, it is natural for investors who are looking to protect their wealth to seek abode in alternative assets whose supply cannot be cranked up as easily. Money creation by central banks causes the price of all goods to rise and also tends to accelerate the adoption of alternative assets as currencies. When central banks create a lot of money, it leads to an increase in the prices of not just goods such as food and cars but also that of commodities such as gold and silver, considered to be alternative forms of money. Yet, for various reasons, the rally in bitcoin may be no more than a case of speculative mania.
•For one, scarcity alone is not sufficient to facilitate the adoption of cryptocurrencies as money. Any asset must have either use value or exchange value in order for it to possess any fundamental value. This fundamental value, in turn, is reflected in the price of these assets in the long run. Stocks and bonds, for instance, possess exchange value that is based on the expected future cash flow from these assets. Commodities such as oil and steel possess use value because these assets are used to run vehicles and build real estate. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies may be scarce but it is questionable whether they possess any use value or exchange value. Gold and silver have traditionally served as hedges against inflation because they possess fundamental value derived from their use as jewellery and money. But bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies neither offer direct use value nor possess significant exchange value — bitcoin can buy you very few real goods and services. In short, cryptocurrencies possess no significant fundamental value to sustain their current high prices.
•Yet, many believe that the rising prices of cryptocurrencies reflect their likely future value as a currency. It is possible that investors are bidding up the price of bitcoin because they foresee a future in which private currency is widely accepted as money. After all, all investments are forward-looking. One may also grant that the extreme volatility seen in the price of cryptocurrencies, which seems unrelated to any similar fluctuations in their fundamentals, may be due to the nascent, illiquid nature of the cryptocurrency market. However, the more cryptocurrencies are accepted in exchange for goods and services, the greater the chances of governments cracking down on them.
Issuance of money
•The monopoly that governments (and central banks) possess over the issuance of money is at the root of their power and influence. This allows governments to fund their budget deficits, particularly during times of crises such as the current pandemic when tax revenues have taken an unprecedented hit. It also allows central banks to tinker with the money supply under the mandate of managing aggregate demand in the economy. In essence, monopoly control over money allows governments to indirectly tax citizens by increasing the supply of currencies, thus devaluing them. If cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are going to challenge fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar as a medium of exchange, they would essentially be challenging the authority of the government to print and spend. This is not an assault that governments will tolerate for long. They will allow cryptocurrencies to exist only as long as these currencies remain a speculative asset and not a medium of exchange.
•This is not to say that governments are justified in their crackdown against cryptocurrencies. China recently imposed a complete ban on all cryptocurrencies and plans to issue its own central bank-issued digital currency. Private alternatives to fiat currencies offer people greater choice in what currencies they choose to use as a medium of exchange. The benefits of free market competition in money were elaborated by economist Friedrich Hayek in The Denationalization of Money. Most notably, competition between currencies to cater to the demands of customers would ensure that fiat currencies that are printed indiscriminately simply go out of use. This is the outcome that governments fear and would fight to avoid at any cost.
