📰 Centre bans export of broken rice due to domestic demand
Rice production may fall due to a drop in paddy sowing area this kharif season
•The Centre has banned the export of broken rice, mostly used as animal feed and as a component for ethanol production, in view of the domestic demand and the production scenario of rice.
•The export of broken rice rose by 4,178% during April to August from the figure during the corresponding period in 2019.
•India exports broken rice mainly to China, Senegal, Vietnam, Djibouti and Indonesia. It exported about 21.31 lakh tonne of broken rice in the past five months.
•Justifying the reason to ban export, Sudhanshu Pandey, Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution, said on Friday that the move would ensure adequate availability of broken rice for the domestic poultry industry and for other animal feedstock and for producing ethanol under the ethanol blending programme.
•Mr. Pandey said the country was likely to witness a shortfall of about 6% in area and production of paddy during the ongoing kharif season.
•“The final area for kharif in 2021 was 403.58 lakh hectares. So far, an area of 325.39 lakh hectares has been covered. In domestic production, 60 to 70 lakh tonnes estimated production loss is anticipated but due to good monsoon rain in some pockets, the production loss may reduce to 40 to 50 tonnes. However, this would be at par with last year’s production,” Mr. Pandey said.
•“There has been a rise in global demand for broken rice due to geo-political scenario which has impacted price movement of commodities. The export of broken rice has increased by 43 times in the past four years,” he said, adding that about 21.31 lakh tonnes of broken rice was exported during April-August compared with just 0.41 lakh tonne in the corresponding period in 2018-19.
•He said in the current ethanol season year, against the contracted quantity of 36 crore litres, only 16.36 crore litres had been supplied by distilleries due to low availability of broken rice. Also, domestic price of broken rice, which was ₹16 per kg in the open market, had increased to ₹22 per kg because of higher international prices.
📰 End of an era
The Queen’s passing could have an impact on the mission, prospects of the Commonwealth
•The passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the United Kingdom’s longest serving monarch who reigned for over 70 years, marks the end of an era for British monarchy. Her tenure as Head of State began during the early post-War years and witnessed a paradigm-changing shift in the balance of political power from the British empire to the Commonwealth, and the emergence of free, post-colonial nations. During her time on the throne the Cold War came to an end and so too did the U.K.’s 47-year experiment as a member of the European Union. No fewer than 15 U.K. Prime Ministers came and went while she reigned, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss. Her rule was not without controversy. On the personal front she suffered an “annus horribilis” in 1992, when the marriages of three of her children broke down and Windsor Castle was damaged by fire. In the aftermath of the death of King Charles’ former wife, Diana, in a car accident in Paris in 1997, criticism was levelled at the monarchy for shying away from public response. Despite these occasional setbacks, Queen Elizabeth has consistently enjoyed a high favourability rating among the British public, 75% according to a recent poll. Observers attribute this to her stubborn silence on political issues, a “closed book” approach that allowed subjects, critics, and outsiders to project onto her and the royal family, whatever they wished to.
•Her passing however raises complex questions regarding the state of the monarchy vis-à-vis the Commonwealth realms and the prognosis for the latter’s continuing evolution in a vastly different socioeconomic milieu compared to the Elizabethan era. Consider, for example, the debate in Australia, where there is a popular movement to reposition the country as a Republic, particularly in the context of the administration of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese being keen to set up a treaty with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In 2021, Barbados became the 18th country to remove the British monarch from the role of head of state. Other than these two nations and the U.K., the British monarch remains the head of the state in Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, The Bahamas, and Tuvalu. At least six Caribbean nations have hinted at following the Barbados example. However, the broader Commonwealth group of 56 nations, of which India and other South Asian countries are members, remains intact, thanks in large part to the critical role that the Queen played in championing the organisation and maintaining its relevance. As epochal was her rule, so too could the impact of her passing be on the mission and prospects of the Commonwealth.
Citizens need to back politicians and bureaucrats who bring development and environmental protection to the fore
•After two weeks of heavy rain, I am breathing a little easier — as a resident of Whitefield in Bengaluru. Menacing clouds scud overhead, but the sheets of water have abated.
•Meanwhile, social media reveals the pulse of the people. Viral content shows abandoned vehicles floating or under water, tractors and their trailers laden with software professionals commuting to work and inflatable rafts being hauled by rescue teams with residents on board escaping from flooded layouts that are home to luxury villas. Black humour memes flood our mobile phones, even as our feet swill around in the bilges. Some discussions have turned parochial and even racist, blaming migrants to be the prime culprits. Politicians have waded in — only figuratively, of course. Most blame previous governments, while some blame citizens. Those in the ruling party seem irritable; one of its own rich supporters, who is not known for the use of temperate language, has been castigated by another for sharing flood-related photos, and giving Bengaluru a ‘bad name’.
•Useful discussions that involve water and climate experts have them repeatedly highlight how we have encroached into lakes and watersheds, destroyed wetlands, reduced greenery and concretised lands, thus facing the consequences of our actions.
When the rot began
•There is consensus that we must do something. We know what to do. But where do we begin? How do we proceed and what is the sequence? Who will help?
•As Bengaluru expanded, swallowing up the villages around it, panchayats were disbanded to create six city municipal corporations, which were merged subsequently into the Bhruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). During this transition, land records were either destroyed or tampered with, and fake documents fabricated by corrupt interests. Lakes and their catchment areas were soon transformed into private lands. Builders backfilled these and soon made quick money building apartments, shopping malls and information-technology parks. We were arrogant in thinking that we could somehow defy nature. But water finds its own level, irrespective of whether we are rich or poor.
Them and us
•Yet, this smacks of déjà vu. Many cities in Europe and the United States, notwithstanding their beautiful environs today, are examples where there was the ruthless destruction of the environment, and construction frenzy to become pulsating economic growth engines. They too saw a nexus of corruption involving politicians and bureaucrats, eschewing environmentally sensible decisions for short-term gains. They too benefited from migration, which brought in energy and skill. And they too suffered, like us, from two classic impediments in public welfare provision. First, the problem of free riders, where people partook of city-provided benefits without paying city taxes. And second, the ‘tragedy of the commons’ problem, where bulwarks against environmental breakdown — wetlands, lakes, grasslands, trees, parks, and forests — belonged to nobody.
•The difference between us and them is this — they grew when nature had the leeway to heal and establish a new environmental equilibrium. We, in contrast, are destroying our environment when climate change is already upon us; and further damage would only result in a cascading succession of disasters.
•Reassuringly, Bengaluru consistently implements reforms, albeit slowly. We have achieved some success in rainwater harvesting, solar water heating, segregation of garbage and the stoppage of littering, even if deadlines were unmet. We are better than many in environmental compliance, though not good enough.
•What we lack is the institutional capacity to handle the problems of the future. We cannot persist with the same alphabet soup of uncoordinated institutions that have contributed to our problems in the first place and comprising local governments, namely, the BBMP and panchayats, State institutions such as the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA), various ‘planning authorities’ and the Revenue Department and parastatals such as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM), Lake Authority and Bangalore Smart City Limited.
Putting reforms into action
•We need two broad thrusts to implement the reforms we know we need, to build climate resilience and a better environment.
•First, we must execute institutional euthanasia. A multiplicity of institutions does not improve execution. They are deliberately constructed to get in each other’s way, complicate governance and preserve opportunities that benefit corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and land exploiters. Outdated institutions need to be replaced by a constitutionally compliant structure, with local governments at the top. Eleven independent planning authorities must be merged and subordinated to the Metropolitan Planning Committee. This constitutionally mandated institution enables all stakeholders, from Bengaluru’s largest land owners, i.e., the defence, the railways, airports and national highway authorities, to the mahanagara palika and panchayats within the metropolitan area, to participate. Likewise, parastatals such as the BWSSB and the Smart City Company should be subordinated to the BBMP.
Making tough decisions
•Second, our community needs to steel itself for some tough decisions. Climate resilience goes beyond flood control; it needs minimising the damaging environmental impact of cities. We must take hard decisions on transportation, curb car travel and improve cheap public transport with more buses instead of waiting for the expensive metro. We must preserve our existing green cover and plant more trees, both in the city and around it. We must de-concretise our pavements, prohibit littering and segregate garbage as unsegregated garbage clogs drains. We must enforce sewage treatment plant operational standards. We need to accelerate efforts to improve Rajakaluves (channels that connect waterbodies) as demonstrated in a 11-kilometre stretch in the city centre.
•We must deal with the huge legacy of unacceptable constructions and encroachments. The only solution is to remove some of these unacceptable constructions and restore wetlands and tank beds. Any delay will result in nature reclaiming its due, as the effects of global warming intensify. Rising flood waters will spare none, the rich or the poor.
•I can already hear the gasps of incredulity. How can we entrust our lives to the tender ministrations of our corporators, who have the reputation of being thugs and crooks? Such thinking is riddled with serious faults. First, we could elect better people to the corporation. Second, the thought that the higher we go, the more principled and statesman-like people are is a laughable and naive presumption. Third, it undermines the biggest tools of accountability in the BBMP, wards committees and area sabhas. Getting these institutions to work well is in our hands. There are no corresponding peoples’ participation mechanisms in State departments and parastatals.
•What we can dispense with are parochial arguments. Both the migrant ‘techie’ and the migrant rag picker are vitally important for the economic health of Bengaluru. There is a time lag between migrant arrivals and their becoming assertive stakeholders in the city’s health; that is no reason to decry them. Indeed, our city would collapse if all migrants returned to their homes.
Good politics
•Finally, apolitical approaches have their limitations. Political parties of all hues have been exploiting Bengaluru for decades. Let us face it. If we continue to vote for the corrupt for considerations other than development and environmental protection, we will not find solutions. Our bad political choices are keeping good politicians and bureaucrats out of decision making. While public participation may seem a suicide mission and the frustration and anger of being pushed back can take a toll, the only cure for bad politics is more politics of the good kind. Not less of it.
