📰 Keep ESZ of 1 km around forests: SC
Court directs govt. to maintain eco-sensitive zone to protect natural resources
•The Supreme Court on Friday directed that every protected forest, national park and wildlife sanctuary across the country should have a mandatory eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of a minimum one km starting from their demarcated boundaries.
•Environment Ministry guidelines show that the purpose of declaring ESZs around national parks, forests and sanctuaries is to create some kind of a “shock absorber” for the protected areas.
•These zones would act as a transition zone from areas of high protection to those involving lesser protection.
•A three-judge Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, B.R. Gavai and Aniruddha Bose, in a 60-page judgment, highlighted how the nation’s natural resources have been for years ravaged by mining and other activities. The judgment, by Justice Bose, observed that the government should not confine its role to that of a “facilitator” of economic activities for the “immediate upliftment of the fortunes of the State”.
•The State also has to act as a trustee for the benefit of the general public in relation to the natural resources so that sustainable development could be achieved in the long term.
•“Such a role of the State is more relevant today, than, possibly, at any point of time in history with the threat of climate catastrophe resulting from global warming looming large,” Justice Bose wrote for the Bench.
•The judgment came on a petition instituted for the protection of forest lands in the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. Subsequently, the scope of that writ petition was enlarged by the court so as to protect such natural resources throughout the country.
•In a series of directions, the court held that in case any national park or protected forest already has a buffer zone extending beyond one km, that would prevail. In case the question of the extent of buffer zone was pending a statutory decision, then the court’s direction to maintain the one-km safety zone would be applicable until a final decision is arrived. The court directed that “mining within the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries shall not be permitted”.
Draft rules in public domain for consultation
•Over the next five years, Delhi-NCR-headquartered Attero Recycling, one of India’s largest electronic waste management companies, expects to invest close to $1 billion in expanding their electronic waste recycling facilities.
•More than 70% of it is for setting up operations in Europe, the U.S. and Indonesia to recycle lithium-ion batteries premised on the increasing share of electric vehicles in future. Nitin Gupta, co-founder and CEO of the firm, says that while lithium batteries may be the future for the company, the present is hinged on the growing number of e-waste that his factory in Roorkee is processing.
•Credit, he says, is due to the mandatory recycling targets set for electronics-goods makers under the Electronic Waste Management Rules, 2016. From 30% of sales in 2018, firms are expected to recycle 70% of sales by 2023.
•“Prior to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regime, recyclers like us had to pay to procure e-waste. We extract the precious metals and sell them. The informal recyclers use hazardous methods and therefore were able to do this at a lower cost. Even if their recovery (of metals) was low, their costs were low and so profitable. Now with the EPR regime, it’s Original Equipment Manufacturers who are paying for recycling and a lot more is collected in the formal sector,” said Mr. Gupta.
•Last month, the Union Environment Ministry unveiled a set of draft rules that further incentivises registered electronic waste recyclers.
•The crucial difference from the 2016 rules is the generation of EPR certificates. The latest e-waste rules are yet to become law and the Environment Ministry has set a 60 day-period for public consultation.
•Recyclers on processing a certain quantity of waste would be given a certificate verifying this number by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Electronics goods companies can buy these certificates online from the CPCB to meet their annual targets.
📰 New India needs free and quality higher education
Corporates, alumni and the government can work towards creating strong philanthropic support and tax breaks
•At a time when the demand for quality education and research in leading universities in India and advanced nations is on the rise, the staggering tuition fees demanded by universities of repute, besides deterring the meritorious from pursuing their degrees from world-class universities, create compulsions to turn professions into business propositions rather than opportunities to serve and excel.
•Carving out a niche in the annals of the global education architecture, New York University’s NYU Grossman School of Medicine announced that from the 2021–22 academic year, it will pay the tuition fees for all its students admitted in its MD programme, regardless of their financial needs, thereby becoming the first major American medical school to do so.
•Kenneth G. Langone, Chair of NYU Langone Health’s Board of Trustees, who made his U.S.$3.5 billion fortune as a co-founder of Home Depot, with his wife Elaine, has given U.S.$100 million to fund the tuition package. NYU has already raised more than U.S.$450 million of the U.S.$600 million it needs to fund the programme.
•In India too, the burden of tuition fees in professional courses is becoming unbearable. Besides, it is causing a serious concern of reducing quality professional education to a commodity rather than the noble service that it ought to be.
•Educational loans, even with government collateral guarantee, are no answer, as the mounting debt of educational loans will cripple the economy of development and public welfare. What we need is a university system that fosters an environment of learning in which world-quality education can be provided without taxing learners with the burden of tuition fees.
The Nordic model
•The Nordic countries — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden – provide free higher education to their people, and overseas students were able to study for free until recently. In Denmark, however, tuition fees were introduced for international students from outside the European Union and the European Economic Area, in 2006. Sweden followed suit in 2011. Only Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Germany do not charge international students tuition fees. This ensures that students receive quality education in the streams that they desire rather than pursuing streams that allow them to earn highly so as to repay their student debt.
•As an article in January 2022 says: ‘the Nordic model has attracted a significant amount of attention from other nations. Many people wonder if it provides a template for smaller countries where citizens are more homogeneous in terms of their opinions and experiences, yet live in poverty or repression as a result of government policies’.
•Despite some attempts to impose fees, all these countries are outliers in a world where international students are frequently a valuable source of revenue for institutions. Last year, the topic resurfaced in Finland when the government recommended that institutions be allowed to charge tuition for international students from outside the European Union. Following a heated public debate, the Finnish government opted not to proceed with the proposals.
•All Nordic countries have a strong legacy of equality, extending to equal opportunities in the education system. The Nordic countries have measures in place to promote gender equality and assist students from lower socioeconomic categories to gain access to higher education. It is no wonder that these countries continue to figure in top of the world happiness index (Finland at No.1, Denmark at No. 2, Iceland at No.4, Norway at No.8 and Germany at No.14, as per the World Happiness Index 2022).
It reshapes student choices
•A ray of hope for evolving a progressive university system in professional education has been provided by NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine. In its announcement, the NYU had pointed out the fact that “overwhelming student debt” is reshaping the medical profession in ways that are bad for the health-care system. Such debts prompt graduates to pursue high-paying specialties rather than careers in family medicine, paediatrics, and obstetrics and gynaecology. The lead taken by the NYU is bound to inspire many other leading universities to consider and value the student’s intellectual acumen rather than financial investment.
•But then, universities need funds for education and research. Education is a noble service and an investment to charter a bright future for humanity. If students pay for education, they would be forced to earn from the degrees they acquire. The profession then becomes a privilege to earn rather than a privilege to serve and excel, as it ought to have been.
•There is a strong case for reviving philanthropy and community support for higher education in India. Corporates, generous alumni, and people at large can join in to create strong philanthropic support for higher education and make quality education tuition-free. The government, for its part, should be generous enough to declare such philanthropic donations to the cause of higher education and research tax-free, now that the treasury is full of funds from the ever-growing list of income tax and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) payers.
•Can we, then, make the prophecy of the great management guru, Philip B. Crosby, come true in higher education, who, during the quality revolution in the late 1970s, advocated that “Quality is Free!”
•Rajesh Mehta is a leading consultant and columnist working on market entry, innovation and public policy.
📰 U.S. and India working to build on gains from trade forum
Both countries seek more market access for goods, services
•With the reappearance of Indian mangoes in the U.S. market, after the November 2021 U.S. India Trade Policy Forum (TPF) helped overcome a pandemic-induced hiatus in mango trade, officials are looking at what can be achieved in this year’s TPF session, likely to be held in November.
•For the U.S., exporting ethanol and an associated animal feed ingredient, called DDGS (Distillers’ Dried Grains with Solubles) to India in the agricultural goods category is important, a U.S. government official told The Hindu.
•As far as ethanol trade is concerned, the U.S. official said they were aware that India had “some sensitives” given it has domestic ethanol producers, and that the U.S. could find a way to supplement these sources, to help with renewable energy goals, even if that meant not fully liberalising the market for ethanol. India amended the National Policy on Biofuels in May to advance the 20% ethanol blending target in petrol by five years , to 2025-26. The amended policy also allows the greater use of feedstock for biofuels.
•For India, the export of carabeef (water buffalo meat) to the U.S., as well as table grapes are among the agricultural trade priorities currently under discussion, the official said.
•The resumption of Indian wild caught shrimp exports to the U.S. is also an agricultural priority area being discussed. U.S. law prohibits the import of wild caught shrimp and its derivative products if protected sea turtle species are harmed in the process. One way around this is to use Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) while fishing for shrimp; India views this as a technical barrier to trade.
•In conversations with The Hindu, officials on both sides, emphasized that there are priority items in each working group at this stage, cautious not to emphasize any one good or service as having overarching priority across groups. The TPF goes beyond agri-trade to include goods and services in other sectors — and items on these other lists are also of importance, as working groups negotiate on subjects that fall in their respective areas.
Inter-sessional meeting
•The Hindu has learned that the two sides are expected to take part in an inter-sessional meeting sometime in July. That is when notes across working groups are compared — and negotiations across goods and service categories begin. Four working groups were identified during the TPF — agricultural goods, non-agricultural goods, services and investment (includes digital trade), and intellectual property (IP).
•On the U.S. side, greater access to the Indian market for medical devices, as well as digital trade, remain priorities, the U.S. official said. India wants to be reinstated as a beneficiary of the U.S.’s preferential market access programme – the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP).
•India was taken out of the GSP programme by former U.S. President Donald Trump, in June 2019, for not opening up its markets enough (as per Mr Trump). The programme itself expired on December 31, 2020, and has to first be renewed before India is re-admitted to it. About $5.6 billion of Indian exports to the U.S. were covered by the programme, although the tax savings for these products amounted to less — about $190 million.
Higher bar
•The renewal of GSP is featured in the House of Representatives’ America Competes Act (2022), and the Senate’s U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, 2021, (USICA).
•The two pieces of legislation have passed their respective chambers and are currently being reconciled with each other, so they can be sent to President Joe Biden for his assent. The process could carry on through the end of August.
•The new House and the Senate language on GSP require beneficiary countries to meet standards on internationally recognized human rights.
•They include provisions to ensure beneficiaries are following their own environmental laws and international commitments.
📰 Gradual engagement
India should maintain with Afghanistan a policy of engagement rooted in realism
•India’s decision to send a diplomatic delegation to Kabul to meet with Taliban officials shows a marked difference from the policy New Delhi took in the 1990s when the Sunni Islamist group was in power in Afghanistan. Back then, India had taken a policy of disengagement with Kabul and supported anti-Taliban militias. But this time, Afghanistan’s internal situation and the regional dynamics seem to be different, prompting many neighbouring countries to adopt a more constructive line towards the Taliban regime, despite their differences with the group’s extremism. India shuttered its embassy in Kabul in August 2021, days before the Taliban takeover, but has maintained a line of communication with them. In September, India’s Ambassador to Qatar, Deepak Mittal, met Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, a senior Taliban official, at the Indian Embassy in Doha. In October, Indian officials met the Taliban’s Deputy Prime Minister, Abdul Salam Hanafi, in Moscow at a regional conference on Afghanistan. Here, India also joined nine other countries to recognise the “new reality” in Afghanistan. Later, New Delhi sent humanitarian assistance, including wheat, COVID-19 vaccines and winter clothes, to Afghanistan when the country was facing a near-total economic collapse. The meeting J.P. Singh, Joint Secretary, Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had with the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, is a natural next step of this policy of gradual engagement India has taken.
•The MEA has said that the visit is only to help coordinate India’s humanitarian assistance for the Afghanistan people. While it could be true, the visit would also pave the way for better understanding and engagement given the bad blood in the past. India has three main concerns when it comes to the Taliban’s return to Afghanistan. One, India has made investments worth billions of dollars in the past 20 years. It would want to protect these investments and retain the Afghan people’s goodwill. Two, when the Taliban were in power in the 1990s, Afghanistan became a safe haven for anti-India terrorist groups. India also saw a sharp rise in violence in Kashmir during the Mujahideen-Taliban reigns of Afghanistan. New Delhi would not like history to repeat itself and would want commitments from the Taliban that they would not offer support for anti-India groups. Three, the Taliban remaining a Pakistani satellite forever is not in India’s strategic interest. New Delhi cannot pursue any of these objectives if it does not engage with the Taliban. But, at the same time, India should not hurry in to offer diplomatic recognition to the Taliban’s predominantly Pashtun, men-only regime, which has imposed harsh restrictions on women at home. India should work with other regional and global players to push the Taliban to adopt a more inclusive regime, while at the same time maintaining a policy of gradual bilateral engagement rooted in realism.
📰 Control and delete
A Government committee is not the solution to problems with the social media
•The Government’s plan to set up a panel that can overturn content moderation decisions made by social media platforms is problematic in many ways. The idea, which has been proposed as an amendment to the controversial IT Rules, 2021, is to constitute one or more appellate committees which will have the final word on any content moderation issue facing a social media platform. The trigger for these Government-appointed committees to come to life will be, say, an appeal by a social media user who feels aggrieved by an order of the platform’s grievance officer. “Government policies and rulemaking are committed to ensure an open, safe, and trusted and accountable Internet for its users. As Internet access continues to rapidly expand in India, new issues related to the above commitments also keep emerging,” the draft reportedly says. It will be naive to think of such an aggrieved user as someone who has no axe to grind. With billions of users, social media is well and truly an influencing machine, and filled with influencers of all hues and shades. It is, therefore, important for democracy’s sake that it is not taken over by any one influential player, even if it is the Government, with an agenda.
•But this is exactly what the mechanism will help to serve — tighten the Government’s grip on messaging on social media intermediaries, which not long ago served to disseminate alternative voices. Imagine how absurd it will be, for instance, if a Government-appointed committee sits to decide on an issue in which the aggrieved user is a Government entity or a ruling party member. How fair can that be? What makes it worse is in recent years, the Government has not covered itself with glory when dealing with dissent, in the real world and on social media. This will not only add another layer of complexity to the problematic IT rules that were introduced last year but also another lever of Government control. The IT rules were widely criticised, including by this newspaper as “deeply unsettling” for the kind of leverage that they give to the Government over digital channels, with troubling implications for freedom of expression and right to information. Ironically, they were launched by the then-Minister as a “soft-touch oversight mechanism”. It should be noted that the last word has not been said on those rules, what with pending legal challenges to them. All this is not to say that social media platforms should not be regulated. Far from it. What should be clear after all these years is that a Government committee is not the right answer for many woes, let alone social media ones. And in this case, it comes with dangerous implications for free speech. It is best, therefore, that the proposal is dropped.
