📰 Cooperative model best suited for development of India: Amit Shah
‘It will ensure inclusive development’
•Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday described the cooperative model as the best suited model to achieve an all-encompassing and inclusive development in a huge country like India with a population of 130 crore.
•Mr. Shah said the cooperative model had the capacity to bring prosperity for all and there was a need to increase the number of successful cooperative models like the Amul dairy cooperatives and bring them under one umbrella.
•He said this while inaugurating a milk powder factory, a poly film manufacturing plant and other projects of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) set up with an investment of ₹415 crore at Gandhinagar; the Union Minister’s parliamentary constituency.
•“It is a very difficult job to take development to all and get everyone to participate in the process of development in a country with a population of 130 crore,” Mr. Shah said, adding many pundits failed to figure out which economic model would fit the requirements of this country in the past after Independence.
•Mr. Shah credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with recognising the Amul model as the best suited for economic development in villages. “Seventy-five years after the country saw many governments, the country’s Prime Minister tested the model and realised as the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, that if there is any economic model for an all-encompassing, all-inclusive economic development of a country of 130 crore population, then that is only the cooperative.”
Organic farming
•Mr. Shah asked the management of Amul to work out a similar model for organic farming to encourage more farmers to adopt the practice, as overuse of fertilizers were causing soil degradation and diseases like cancer. He added that Amul should ask its farmers to adopt natural and organic farm practices and promised support from the Centre.
•Calling the Amul model the most successful model for women empowerment, he suggested that the NGOs working for women empowerment instead run women cooperative societies to achieve empowerment of rural women.
•“Amul is an example of what 36 lakh women dairy farmers can achieve if they work together with transparency,” he said.
•According to a press statement issued by the GCMMF, the new milk powder plant set up at AmulFed Dairy, a unit of the GCMMF, is Asia’s largest fully automated dairy with a milk handling capacity of 50 lakh litres per day.
•The GCMMF is the largest dairy cooperative network in India with its 18 district-level member unions, 18,563 village-level dairy cooperative societies and 36 lakh farmer members in Gujarat.
•Together, the GCMMF group — which sells its dairy products under the brand name of Amul with an annual turnover of more than ₹50,000 crore — has 87 dairy manufacturing plants with a handling capacity of 39 million litres of milk per day.
•Besides its extensive network in Gujarat, the group also sources milk from 13 other States across the country.
The SC is right in asking for basis on which Centre fixed income limit for EWS quota
•The questions raised by the Supreme Court of India about the criteria for identifying the ‘Economically Weaker Sections’ (EWS) for the purpose of granting reservation are quite apposite. Faced with sharp questions that it could not answer satisfactorily, the Union government has obtained time to reconsider the criteria, especially the income norm that only those from a family with annual income less than ₹8 lakh can avail of the 10% reservation earmarked for the EWS category. It is now a settled principle that quantifiable data or proof of a detailed study are required to justify any category of reservation, as well as the norms that determine which section gets it and which does not. In this backdrop, it is logical that the Court would want to know whether there was any study before the Centre prescribed the norms for identifying EWS beneficiaries based on indicators of economic disadvantage. The enquiry by the three-judge Bench is necessarily circumscribed by the fact that the validity of the 103rd Constitution Amendment, through which the EWS quota was introduced in 2019, is before a Constitution Bench. In the ongoing proceedings, the Bench is considering the validity of the 27% quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and 10% for Economically Weaker Sections introduced for admission to the All-India Quota (AIQ) of seats in medical admissions throughout the country. It has clarified that it is not examining any policy issue, but wants to determine if constitutional requirements have been complied with.
•The income criterion is undoubtedly an anomalous aspect of the EWS quota. An annual income of ₹8 lakh is the limit beyond which an OBC family would fall under the ‘creamy layer’ and will be denied reservation. The same income figure is being used as the ceiling for identifying EWS. The moot question is whether those who do not face the impediments that come with social and educational backwardness can be equated with those who do. However, the current proceeding will only decide the validity of OBC and EWS reservation in admissions under the AIQ. It must be noted that the introduction of OBC quota in AIQ only brings the admission norms in line with prevailing policy. OBC reservation is applicable to admissions done separately by the Union and State governments in their respective medical institutions, but it was not implemented all these years for all-India quota seats. This pool is formed by the surrender of 15% of undergraduate seats and 50% of PG seats by the States. The absence of OBC quota in this category was an anomaly that has now been rectified. The larger issue that remains is whether reservation can be treated as a poverty alleviation measure and those not well-off but belonging to socially advanced communities can be given a share of the reservation pie. The Constitution Bench should resolve this question early.
📰 What the Omicron variant means for India
It could pose a threat to progress made in the COVID-19 fight, but additional information is needed
•The continued decline in COVID-19 cases following the intense second wave in India has led to hope that a return to normalcy might be near. Across the country, emboldened by the fact that the festival season did not lead to a steep rise in cases, restrictions have eased and public behaviour is largely returning to normal.
Situation now
•The low number of cases currently in India, even as cases are rising across much of Europe, appears largely attributable to two factors. First, seroprevalence studies indicate that a large proportion of the population has already been exposed to the virus providing some level of protection to subsequent infections. Second, the immunisation campaign has gained momentum. Approximately 44% of Indian adults have been fully vaccinated and 82% have received at least one dose. What is more, scientists believe that prior infection followed by one or two doses of vaccination may have a larger protective effect than two doses of the vaccination alone.
•While vaccine-derived protection against symptomatic infection is expected to decay with time, current research suggests that breakthrough infections in fully vaccinated individuals are reduced in intensity and duration, compared to cases in individuals who have not been vaccinated. This holds for the Delta variant as well. Other variants have raised concerns but none of them has appeared to be significantly more worrying than the Delta variant, at least until now.
What WHO says
•A new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus was recently identified in Botswana. Called the Omicron variant, early evidence suggests that it may be responsible for the steep rise of cases in the Gauteng province of South Africa. In this region, 90% of samples from the past few weeks have been of the Omicron variant. This variant has a large number of mutations. Some of them are cause for serious concern because they may allow the new variant to evade immunity obtained from a past infection or via a vaccine. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently labelled this variant as a ‘variant of concern’.
•While the emergence of the new variant is concerning and requires extreme vigilance, there are several questions that remain unanswered at the moment. Is the variant more transmissible? Can it evade the immune system? And is the variant associated with more severe disease outcomes?
•The possibility of a new, more transmissible variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has, of course, been the principal worry of epidemiologists. Some other recent variants, with a more limited repertoire of mutations, have raised concerns briefly, but have not risen to the level of being named a variant of concern so far. What is concerning here is that cases of the new variant have risen so sharply as to suggest that it may far outstrip the Delta variant in its ability to infect people. There are no reliable estimates of just how much more transmissible the Omicron variant is compared to previous strains of the virus. But even crude calculations suggest it could be much larger than for those strains.
•When new variants can evade immunity obtained through immunisation and prior infections, there is a greater chance for breakthrough cases and further transmission. WHO has recommended studies to understand the degree to which the immune system is evaded by the Omicron variant. This is a key question for India given the high proportion of individuals with some level of immunity, mostly from infection. If these mutations do lead to greater immune escape, vaccines and treatments like monoclonal antibodies might need to be reformulated.
•Luckily, RT-PCR tests should still detect the Omicron variant.
Addressing the variant
•Right now, we know very little about whether the Omicron variant might lead to more severe forms of COVID-19, both in vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. This is clearly a priority for research. Evidence related to increased severity associated with other variants, such as the Delta variant, remains largely inconclusive.
•Where did the Omicron variant come from? Viruses mutate all the time and SARS-CoV-2 is no exception. What is unusual is the very large number of mutations that the Omicron variant has accumulated. This is likely a consequence of a chronic infection in an immunocompromised patient, such as one infected with HIV. A strong immune response can ultimately eliminate the virus. However, in a weakened immune system the virus will continue to multiply and mutate, changing its form to evade immune response. Given this, prioritising the elderly and immunocompromised for a future additional dose would make sense.
•While a number of nations have already closed their doors to travellers from South Africa, epidemiologists worldwide recognise that these measures can only offer temporary relief. Given that a case was found in Hong Kong in a traveller from South Africa a full four days into a mandatory quarantine, and that this patient may have infected another individual who turned positive some days later, it seems very likely that cases may have already crossed borders without being detected. Israel has also reported cases, with one of them, a 32-year-old woman, already triple vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine before testing positive. The symptoms in this case were mild.
Promote vaccination
•As long as the virus circulates, the possibility remains that new variants could emerge. The best option is to reduce case numbers. For this, vaccination is an especially powerful tool. Even a single dose of vaccine can reduce dramatically the risk of hospitalisation or a worse outcome; two doses do even better. However, the current inequity in vaccine distribution means that this means of control is out of reach of most in lower and middle-income countries. While many rich countries are now arranging for booster doses to safeguard their populations, even younger and less vulnerable individuals, this policy comes at the cost of the rest of the world, where vaccine coverage remains abysmally low. More than 60 countries have vaccinated less than 25% of their population, including South Africa. It is these regions that hold the most potential for a new, more transmissible variant. Equity in the distribution of vaccines is an urgent global public health need, quite apart from being ethically and morally the right thing to do.
•The Director of the Wellcome Trust, Sir Jeremy Farrar, has in a tweet, said, “South Africa needs to be praised, offered whatever support is needed and acknowledged for the quality of speed of public health and genomic science in South Africa, sharing the data immediately, supporting the region and the world....” We concur and urge that India and other countries should learn from the South African experience, making its data available in real time for the world to study, and exhibiting the highest levels of transparency. At present, we do not know enough about the variant to truly understand the potential risk that it might pose, but — as with all such things — preparing adequately for an uncertain future is key.
📰 COP26 pledges need a new climate of cooperation
Developing economies such as India are burdened with other issues and require the help of the developed North
•As world leaders converged in Glasgow for the COP26 (October 31-November 12, 2021), there were some notable absentees. The Presidents of China and Russia, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, leaders of the world’s second and fourth largest carbon emitters, failed to make it to Glasgow. Hence, understandably, all eyes fell upon India, the world’s third largest carbon emitter, and which included what kind of commitment Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be making.
•There was cautious optimism when India finally announced its net zero target, even though India’s pledged deadline is 2070 – two decades after than the desired deadline of the year 2050. After the net zero target, the United States and Europe led the next biggest climate goal, the Global Methane Pledge, to bring down global methane levels significantly by 2030; this was signed by as many as 104 countries. Despite being the third-largest methane emitter, India was not signatory. India also was not part of the pledge to deforestation despite hosting the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest: the Sundarbans.
Pursuing green energy
•India has been a promoter of green energy to reduce carbon emission. Although the country is yet to significantly transit to renewable energy, accounting only 22.5% of nationwide electricity production, India has been leading the global movement towards solar power. The country cofounded the International Solar Alliance (ISA) along with France – an alliance with more than 120 countries to promote solar energy. To strengthen India’s stand for renewable energy like solar energy, India has signed to the Glasgow Breakthrough Agenda in this year’s COP26 along with over 35 other nations to promote clean energy and make it more affordable.
•Compared to China’s 28.4%, the U.S.’s 19.8% and some North European country’s 100% transition to renewable energy for power, there is much room for improvement in India. However, there are two key struggles that India has to deal with when transitioning to green energy: the consumption of the world’s second largest population base and the lack of adequate available renewable energy options. Countries such as Iceland and Norway have the privilege to depend almost entirely on hydroelectricity adequate enough for a small population such as theirs. Countries with a similar population scale to India such as China and the U.S. have been relying significantly on nuclear power to cut down on carbon emissions which India cannot facilitate due to not being a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. India did commit to transiting to green energy for meeting at least half of nation-wide power consumptions. However, the country requires significant measures to do so, which includes bringing down the cost of renewable energy to make it more affordable and attractive to the general public and private businesses.
•The Indian government has been promoting green energy to abide by its COP21 climate commitments. The Government plans to make wide use of hydrogen fuel as a better substitute of fossil fuels and is promoting renewable energy such as solar powered energy production by reducing tariffs and even providing for subsidising which are falling. The Indian renewable energy industry is up against an immense financial challenge with a recent report estimating the requirement of ₹2.61 trillion to install a balance capacity to achieve its target of 175 gigawatts of renewable power by the year 2022.
Difficult choices for the South
•India has faced numerous economic adversities in recent years. The country is still reeling from the impact of demonetisation in 2016 that left GDP growth rate falling ever since. Foreign investment in India has also been declining since 2018.
•The COVID-19 pandemic that hit in early 2020 further pushed down GDP growth, severely impacting several industries. Scarce resources are being used for economic survival. The Government is desperately trying to aid its economy by subsidising various industries during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as vaccinating its population to prevent another wave as worse as the COVID-19 Delta variant wave that had hit India earlier. The country is going through a resource constraint, having to choose between priorities.
•Meeting climate goals with a population of 1.3 billion while combating the novel coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge for the world’s largest democracy. India does not have privilege like its peers from the developed world to financially support all of its economy, people and the climate. It is no surprise that Mr. Modi had to ask the international community for a new financial commitment to achieve the climate goals. More so, since the annual $100 billion pledge by developed countries to the developing countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs) back in COP16 is yet to be disbursed.
•If powerful developing economies such as India are to play a constructive role in tackling climate change and achieving net zero target, the developed North needs to shore up its support by taking a common responsibility to help developing countries and LDCs to pursue climate goals as they already face the daunting tasks of fighting poverty, providing basic health-care services, and ensuring access to education. People without food when they are hungry, medicine and doctors when they are ill, and schools for their children cannot be expected to either relate or appreciate the adversities of climate change being debated in a place and country which most of them have not even heard of and leaders they hardly know.
