India Coronavirus Dispatch: What is govt's plan for vaccine side effects? - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India Coronavirus Dispatch: What is govt's plan for vaccine side effects?.

Supply-chain ideas that can cut vaccine waste, a virologist's views on vaccine hesitancy, how the pandemic unfolded in the country-news relevant to India's fight against Covid-19

What if you develop side effects after immunisation? The Government has a plan

It is completely normal for people to develop side effects after immunisation. In medical jargon, these side effects are called adverse events. These can be 'minor', 'severe', or 'serious', with only the last category requiring hospitalisation. In fact, vaccination drives that are underway the UK and the US have also reported adverse events, especially in people with allergies, says the writer of this article. None were 'serious'.

The top three vaccines that are currently awaiting the government's approval in India are Pfizer and BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin. So far, the adverse events have been 'minor' or 'severe', and the proportion of such cases has been small.

So, what is the government's plan to tackle side effects? Vaccinators are actively being trained to detect and manage adverse events. Every vaccination site will be linked to a designated adverse event management centre. The states have been asked to identify at least one such centre in each block. These adverse events will also be registered on the Co-WIN app and website, the government's new app to manage the vaccine roll-out. There are a few more measures the government is taking to tackle side effects.

How the pandemic unfolded in the country

From the first case in India reported back in January to the caseload breaching the 10 million mark, the writer of this article summarises how the pandemic unfolded in the country so far. The writer takes you through the origins of the virus in China, the lockdowns that brought economies around the world to a standstill, and the development of the vaccines at a historic pace. The writer also walks you through the grim consequences of the pandemic such as the death toll, the migrant crisis, and more. Read more here

Are Covid-19 vaccines safe and efficient? A virologist answers burning questions

Covishield being developed by Oxford-AstraZeneca and manufactured by India's Serum Institute, Covaxin being developed by Bharat Biotech, and the vaccine candidate developed by Pfizer and BioNTech are in line to receive emergency approval for Covid-19 vaccination in India. But, several large-scale surveys have indicated significant vaccine hesitancy in the general public, including among health professionals.

Dr Shahid Jameel, a virologist and the director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences at Ashoka University, answers burning questions around vaccine hesitancy, including around safety, efficacy, adverse events, and the rapid speed with which vaccine development has taken place.

What supply-chain ideas of Amazon, Walmart can help cut Covid-19 vaccine waste

Complicated storage requirements and variability in demand are two key challenges of vaccine distribution that may lead to a substantial proportion of perishable vaccines going to waste, say Tinglong Dai a professor of operations management at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and Christopher S Tang, a distinguished professor at the University of California.

Fulfilment centres can solve the variable demand problem, the writers say. Instead of shipping the shots straight to hospitals or pharmacies, regional fulfilment centres in different districts with pooled inventory could be set up, a method practised by Amazon.

An approach called 'cross-docking', popularised by Walmart, can solve the storage requirement problem the writers say. Instead of receiving the vaccines from incoming trucks, storing them in intermediate warehouses, and then moving them from warehouses to outgoing trucks, cross-docking skips the storage step. You can move the vaccines straight from the trucks that came from airports or vaccine makers straight to the outgoing trucks that are headed to fulfilment centres.

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India Coronavirus Dispatch: What is govt's plan for vaccine side effects?.

Weather-based advance warning system for disease outbreaks in the works: Govt - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Weather-based advance warning system for disease outbreaks in the works: Govt.

While the model currently in development, based on the relationship between weather changes and incidence is expected to predict outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, particularly malaria and diarrhoea, subsequently, it is likely to monitor non-communicable diseases as well, they added.

MINISTRY of Earth Sciences (MoES) is developing an ‘Early Health Warning System’ which is expected to forecast the possibility of disease outbreaks in the country.

While the model currently in development, based on the relationship between weather changes and incidence is expected to predict outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, particularly malaria and diarrhoea, subsequently, it is likely to monitor non-communicable diseases as well, they added.

MoES secretary M Rajeevan told The Indian Express, “There are certain diseases where weather patterns play a crucial role. Such as malaria, for which particular temperatures and rainfall patterns can approximately predict whether an area is likely to have an outbreak with fairly reasonable accuracy. What we are looking at is an advance warning of around two weeks.”

Changes in rainfall and temperature patterns likely play a major role in the increased incidence of these diseases across geographical locations.

“We can predict the likelihood of heat-related diseases as well as diseases such as cholera,” he said, adding that such a system, when deployed, would give local authorities ample time to prepare.

To verify the robustness of the advance warning system, a detailed analysis was carried out earlier this year of malaria and diarrhoea cases in two districts of Maharashtra, Pune and Nagpur.

The study found that while both districts have incidences of both diseases, Nagpur reports a higher number of malaria cases while diarrhoea cases are higher in Pune.

The analysis has also found that temporal and spatial variability in weather parameters, for example, a short-term increase in temperature and rainfall as an effect of El-Niño can lead to malaria epidemics.

Meanwhile, an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change noted in its 2007 report that climate change may increase the risk of diarrhoeal diseases, which is of major concern in developing countries, with increasing incidents of floods as well as drought.

“We are starting with vector-borne diseases because there are direct links to such weather patterns. There have been some studies and analysis on weather patterns affecting the spread of viral diseases — especially with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, but this is a far more complex disease and we have been unable to establish a certain link between such diseases and the weather,” said D R Patnaik of the IMD, who is involved in the project. (Source: The Indian Express)

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Weather-based advance warning system for disease outbreaks in the works: Govt

Highly Toxic Algal Blooms on the US West Coast Triggered by Ocean Heatwave - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Highly Toxic Algal Blooms on the US West Coast Triggered by Ocean Heatwave.

Fishermen, swimmers, and seafood enthusiasts may already know the dangers of “red tides,” but a recent study in Frontiers in Climate shows that climate change is increasing the frequency of one type of highly toxic algal bloom off the US west coast.

These algae produce a neurotoxin — called domoic acid — that causes severe and potentially lethal digestive and neurological symptoms. This threat to marine wildlife and humans is restricting shellfish harvest in the region, but local bulletins are helping to forecast the blooms.

“This study shows that climate change can influence the occurrence and intensity of some harmful algal blooms (HABs) by creating new seed beds for their survival and distribution,” says lead author Dr. Vera L Trainer, of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Seattle, Washington. “Coastal communities, including Native Tribes, will suffer from the effects of HABs more frequently in the future, illustrating the importance of early warning systems such as Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletins that are becoming operational in the US and other parts of the world.”

Starting in 1998, Trainer and her colleagues began monitoring domoic acid — which is produced by Pseudo-nitzschia algae — in shellfish samples and ocean water along the US west coast. In 2015, the severe heatwave in the northeast Pacific Ocean triggered a new record-breaking Pseudo-nitzschia bloom that closed shellfish harvest and caused widespread marine mammal mortalities. As a result, a region in northern California near the Oregon border has become a new toxic hotspot that has prevented shellfish harvest every year since that heatwave event.

A related finding used multi-model datasets to show that the 2013-2015 heatwave was five times more likely to have been caused by human, rather than natural, influences. Models also predict that extreme marine heatwaves are now 20 times more likely to occur than they would be without climate change. These models include several decade’s worth of data, including temperature, wind, and ocean current measurements, which allow researchers to make a wide variety of climate predictions and risk assessments.

Due to the water currents and coastal topography, the region near the California/Oregon border provides favorable conditions for recurring algal blooms in the future — called retentive regions. At this site, and other retentive regions along the US west coast, Pseudo-nitzschia can remain dormant in sediments for years until ocean upwelling brings the algal cells to the surface and temperatures become warm enough for the algae to multiply.

In response to these now frequent blooms, a regional partnership between NOAA, the University of Washington, the Washington State Departments of Health and Fish and Wildlife and Native Tribes with support from the Northwest Association for Networked Observing Systems has created the Pacific Northwest Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletin to forecast these events and warn local communities of when and where it is safe to collect shellfish. Trainer’s team found that these Bulletins have become a cost-effective tool to help minimize the health and economic toll of the algal blooms.

“There is evidence that bacteria associated with seagrasses have algicidal properties, indicating that seagrass planting may be used to successfully control some HABs in Puget Sound,” says Trainer. “But for large-scale marine HABs, early warning is our best defense and these HAB Bulletins will help preserve a way of life that includes wild shellfish harvest, on which coastal people depend.”

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Highly Toxic Algal Blooms on the US West Coast Triggered by Ocean Heatwave.

India slips two spot to rank 131 in UN’s human development index - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India slips two spot to rank 131 in UN’s human development index.

Human Development Index is the measure of a nation's health, education, and standards of living. India's HDI value for 2019 is 0.645 placing the country in the medium human development category.

India slipped two spots to rank 131 among 189 countries in the 2020 human development index, a report released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said. Human Development Index is the measure of a nation’s health, education, and standards of living.

While India is ranked 131, its neighbours Bhutan is ranked 129, Bangladesh 133, Nepal 142, and Pakistan 154, the report said. India had ranked 129 in 2018 in the index. Norway topped the index, followed by Ireland, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Iceland.

Addressing the media, UNDP Resident Representative Shoko Noda said the drop in India’s ranking doesn’t mean “India didn’t do well but other countries did better”. He added that India can help other countries too and hailed its commitment towards cutting down carbon emissions.

According to the 2020 Human Development Report, life expectancy of Indians at birth in 2019 was 69.7 years while Bangladesh has a life expectancy of 72.6 years and Pakistan 67.3 years.

The report, published by the United Nations Development Programme on Tuesday, also shows India’s gross national income per capita fell to USD 6,681 in 2019 from USD 6,829 in 2018 on purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. Purchasing power parity or PPP is a measurement of prices in different countries using the prices of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of the countries’ currencies.

The report said evidence from Colombia to India indicates that financial security and ownership of land improve women’s security and reduce the risk of gender-based violence, hereby indicating that owning land can empower women. It further said indigenous children in Cambodia, India and Thailand show more malnutrition-related issues such as stunting and wasting.

“In India different responses in parent behaviour as well as some disinvestment in girls’ health and education have led to higher malnutrition among girls than among boys as a consequence of shocks likely linked to climate change,” the report said.

The report said that under the Paris Agreement, India pledged to cut down the emission intensity of carbon from the 2005 level by 33-35 per cent by 2030 and to obtain 40 per cent of electric power capacity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.

“As part of the plan, the National Solar Mission aims to promote solar energy for power generation and other uses to make solar energy competitive with fossil fuel based options. Solar capacity in India increased from 2.6 gigawatts in March 2014 to 30 gigawatts in July 2019, achieving its target of 20 gigawatts four years ahead of schedule. In 2019, India ranked fifth for installed solar capacity,” the report said. (Source: The Indian Express)

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India slips two spot to rank 131 in UN’s human development index.

India seeks tariff renegotiations at WTO - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India seeks tariff renegotiations at WTO.

• WTO rules allow countries to renegotiate bound rates, or upper tariff limits, for products with substantial interest in exports

• Trade experts said India could be opening another front of renegotiation with member countries on IT products

India has proposed to renegotiate the upper tariff limits on certain items, reportedly information technology products, at the World Trade Organization (WTO) beginning 1 January. The move comes at a time when the Centre has been encouraging domestic manufacturing in select sectors through a production-linked incentive scheme under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

“India hereby reserves the right under Article XXVIII:5 of the GATT 1994 to modify its Schedule XII, during the next three-year period beginning on 1 January 2021," India’s one-line notification to WTO members said.

WTO rules allow countries to renegotiate bound rates, or upper tariff limits, for products with substantial interest in exports if the country’s applied or current tariff is about to breach the bound rate. The country has to compensate to raise its bound rate to the exporting country through negotiations.

In 1988-99, after India lost the case for quantitative restriction on rice and maize, it had to renegotiate tariffs of such items under Article 28 with Brazil, Argentina, the US, the EU and Australia, which had substantial trading interest in the products. As a result of the renegotiations, India got to impose tariff quotas on milk, cream powder, maize and mustard oil. It also got to raise tariffs on rice and millet to 80% and 70%, respectively, from 0%. But in return, India had to substantially reduce tariffs on a host of items, including butter, oranges and grapefruit, to compensate the other countries.

Trade experts said India could be opening another front of renegotiation with member countries on IT products, including smartphones on which it has hiked duties, believed by many countries to be in violation of the IT Agreement it had signed in 1996 under which tariffs on such products need to be kept at zero. “However, others may not agree to India’s renegotiation offer, though the issue can be dragged on for a few more years," one trade expert said under condition of anonymity. A message sent to the commerce ministry spokesperson seeking a comment did not elicit a response.

Under the programme to promote indigenous manufacturing of mobile handsets, starting from the FY16 budget, India has hiked customs duties in a phased manner on mobile phones and components including chargers, batteries, microphones, receivers, keypads, USB cables, printed circuit board assembly and camera modules. Starting 1 October this year, the government has also imposed a 10% customs duty on the display assembly and touch panel of handsets.

The moves prompted the US, the EU and China to drag India to the dispute settlement mechanism of the WTO. (Source: Livemint)

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India seeks tariff renegotiations at WTO.

India-Bangladesh to reopen Chilahati-Haldibari rail link after 1965 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India-Bangladesh to reopen Chilahati-Haldibari rail link after 1965.

India and Bangladesh are going to reopen the Chilahati-Haldibari rail link after it was cut off during the 1965 war, nearly 55 years ago.

The inauguration of the rail link will take place during the Virtual Summit of the Prime Ministers of India and Bangladesh on Thursday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to visit Bangladesh in March this year but due to the sudden onset of Covid-19, the visit had to be postponed. Thursday’s Virtual Summit between PM Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina comes a day after both the nations celebrate victory over Pakistan in the 1971 war.

For years, India and Bangladesh have continued to maintain regular exchanges at the highest level. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina paid an official visit to India in October 2019. PM Modi delivered a video message on the historic occasion of Mujib Borsho in March 2020. Both leaders have remained in regular touch during the pandemic.

With an aim to enhance transport and connectivity between the two nations, the leadership on both sides has been committed to reviving and operationalizing the six pre-1965 rail links between the two countries. The Haldibari-Chilahati rail link was part of the Broad Gauge main route from Kolkata to Siliguri.

However, the war of 1965 effectively cut off all the railway links between the two countries. To revive the ease of access on both sides, the rail links are being restored, enhancing connectivity and people-to-people ties on both sides.

With the inauguration of the Haldibari-Chilahati rail link, five out of six rail links are currently operational. The other four operational rail links between India and Bangladesh connecting West Bengal with Bangladesh are Petrapole (India) - Benapole (Bangladesh), Gede (India) – Darshana (Bangladesh), Singhabad (India)-Rohanpur (Bangladesh)and Radhikapur (India)–Birol (Bangladesh).

Haldibari-Chilahati route will enhance connectivity to Assam and West Bengal from Bangladesh. This link will enhance rail network accessibility and give a boost to bilateral trade and economic development of the region. Currently, the rail link will facilitate the movement of goods cargo. Passenger movement will also commence as soon as the necessary infrastructure on both sides is in place.

Earlier in July this year, India had handed over 10 Broad Gauge locomotives to Bangladesh in a virtual ceremony in presence of External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. From the Bangladesh end, Minister of Railway Md. Nurul Islam Sujan and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abul Kalam Abdul Momen received the locomotives.

India and Bangladesh have also stepped up their rail cooperation in mitigating the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic, as trade via land border has been facing disruptions. Rail as a cost-effective and environmental-friendly solution has helped in transporting essential commodities across the border.

In July this year, parcel and container train services also commenced between India and Bangladesh. The train with 50 containers started from Majerhat station near Kolkata and reached its destination in Bangladesh with a consignment of soaps, shampoos, and other FMCG items along with textile fabric. With the opening up of these railway links and a variety of services, and goods, and people crossing over to the other side, there is a greater likelihood of enhanced bilateral ties between the two neighbours.

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India-Bangladesh to reopen Chilahati-Haldibari rail link after.

Declare exotic pets, avoid prosecution: how one-time scheme works - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

N.K. Singh calls for a fresh look at the Seventh Schedule.

Cites States’ desire for dialogue forum.

Fifteenth Finance Commission chairman N.K. Singh has called for a fresh look at the Constitution’s Seventh Schedule, which forms the basis for allocating subjects to the Centre and States, and hinted at the need to fill an ‘institutional vacuum’ created by the abolition of the Planning Commission.

Mr. Singh also stressed that a co-ordination mechanism between the Finance Commission and the GST Council had now become an ‘inescapable necessity’ as both were constitutional bodies dealing with revenue and grappling with ‘unsettled questions’.

“The symmetry in the working of the GST Council and the Finance Commission deserves serious consideration,” Mr. Singh said at FICCI’s annual general meeting on Friday.

“The Finance Commissions look at projections of expenditure and revenue, but issues of GST rates exemptions, changes, and implementation of the indirect taxes are entirely within the domain of the GST Council. This leads to unsettled questions on the ways to monitor, scrutinise and optimise revenue outcomes,” Mr. Singh noted.

A month after the Commission submitted its report to the government, following extended consultations with States, Mr. Singh said States were keen to have a different kind of ‘a policy-based consultative forum’ with the Centre beyond the Niti Aayog and the National Development Council.

“With the abolition of the Planning Commission, many economists and policy makers have argued about an institutional vacuum. We need to give serious consideration for a consultative forum for credible policy dialogue between the Centre and the States,” he said.

Rebuilding Trust

Urging a review of both the Seventh Schedule and Article 282 of the Constitution so as to give more flexibility to States in implementing centrally sponsored schemes, Mr. Singh said these issues needed urgent consideration to reinforce trust in fiscal federalism.

“Many have argued that the trust between various forms of government is waning. Are there new seeds of suspicion and mistrust? Are the existing arrangements governing Centre-State relations — legislative, executive and financial — envisaged in the Constitution adequate to meet the aspirations of Indian society?” he asked.

Mr. Singh also seemed to back the idea of linking the grant of fiscal headroom to States meeting specific reform outcomes, a term of reference for the Commission.

“The Union government recently allowed additional 2% borrowing for States in July based on universalisation of ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’, ease of doing business, power distribution and urban local body revenues. Performance and outcome-based flexibility for States undertaking market borrowing adds flexibility. A fiscal range than a fiscal point based on expenditure outcomes may be the need of the hour,” he said. (Source: The Hindu)

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N.K. Singh calls for a fresh look at the Seventh Schedule.

‘Curving waves’ from Atlantic may be drying up monsoon, say scientists - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

‘Curving waves’ from Atlantic may be drying up monsoon, say scientists.

Droughts in India have historically been associated with El Nino, an anomalous warming of equatorial Pacific.

Droughts in India have historically been associated with El Nino, an anomalous warming of the equatorial Pacific, but scientists from Bangalore suggest other culprits too.

The study that appears in journal Science says that nearly six out of 10 droughts, in non El Nino years, that occurred during the Indian summer- monsoon season in the past century may have been driven by atmospheric disturbances from the North Atlantic region.

The study was led by researchers at the Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.

In an El Niño year, abnormally warm equatorial Pacific waters pull moisture-laden clouds away from the Indian subcontinent, but the IISc study shows that in non-El Nino years, these droughts are a consequence of a sudden and steep drop in rainfall in late August.

“As early as the 1980s, people have looked at these droughts individually. But they have not collated and pooled them together, and deduced that these droughts may all have a different type of evolution than El Niño droughts”, V Venugopal, Associate Professor at CAOS, says in a press statement by the IISc.

In an El Nino year, the rainfall deficit ‒ departure from a long-term average ‒ will set in early around mid-June and progressively worsen. However, in an non-El Nino-year, droughts will see rainfall and will similarly weaken in mid-June. But from mid-July to mid-August ‒ usually the rainiest period of the monsoon‒ the monsoon will appear to recover. However, around the third week of August, there was a sudden steep decline in rainfall, which resulted in drought conditions.

“We tried to see if we could trace this [August] drought back to a forcing agent or system that influences the behaviour over India. We looked at the winds that were prevalent in these non-El Niño drought years.”

It seems, the researchers note, that winds in the upper atmosphere are interacting with a deep cyclonic circulation above the abnormally cold North Atlantic waters.

The resulting wave of air currents, called a Rossby wave, curved down from the North Atlantic ‒ squeezed in by the Tibetan plateau ‒ and hit the Indian subcontinent around mid-August, suppressing rainfall and throwing off the monsoon that was trying to recover from the June slump. The wave’s usual course is to go from west to east, but not towards the equator, explains Jai Sukhatme, Associate Professor at CAOS and co-author. “This inward curving was the peculiar thing that we noticed during these particular years,” the IISc statement notes.

Thus beyond looking at the Pacific Ocean it is important to consider other influences on the Indian monsoon from outside the tropics. “The Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean seem to be at the forefront of all discussions surrounding Indian monsoon droughts,” says Mr. Venugopal. “It is perhaps time to focus just as much on midlatitude influences, which might aid in getting a better handle on enhanced predictability of monsoon variability.”

Independent scientists say that while the link in the research paper is “novel” it is yet early days to be able to predict an impending drought in India from this paper alone. The Indian Ocean, says Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), too plays an important role in determining the performance of the monsoon and several other factors will have to be considered to develop a reliable model to forecast a potential shortfall in the absence of an El Nino.

In 2014, India saw a 14% rainfall deficit—or a drought—that wasn't linked to an El Nino and before that in 1986 and 1985. “The sheer size of the Pacific means that it influences global climate much more than the Atlantic or other oceans. Therefore, the latter links aren’t easily discoverable. But this study shows that we do need to look at such links closely. (Source: The Hindu)

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‘Curving waves’ from Atlantic may be drying up monsoon, say scientists.

India’s rank slips 7 places at 54th in terms of housing prices appreciation globally - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

India’s rank slips 7 places at 54th in terms of housing prices appreciation globally.

In its latest research report 'Global House Price Index Q3 2020', Knight Frank said that India moved 7 spots down in the global home price index to 54th rank in Q3 2020 against 47th rank in Q3 2019, with a decline of 2.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in home prices.

India’s rank slipped 7 places to 54th in terms of appreciation in residential prices as rates fell 2.4 per cent year-on-year during the July- September quarter, according to property consultant Knight Frank.

India is at 54th position amongst the 56 countries and territories tracked in terms of appreciation in residential real estate prices, the consultant said.

In its latest research report ‘Global House Price Index Q3 2020’, Knight Frank said that India moved 7 spots down in the global home price index to 54th rank in Q3 2020 against 47th rank in Q3 2019, with a decline of 2.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) in home prices.

When compared with the June quarter, India’s ranking remained unchanged.

Turkey is at first position with prices up by 27.3 per cent YoY, followed by New Zealand at 15.4 per cent and Luxembourg with 13.4 per cent.

Morocco was the weakest-performing territory in Q3 2020, with home prices fallen to 3.3 per cent YoY.

Knight Frank India Chairman and Managing Director Shishir Baijal said, “In order to combat the adverse economic implications of the pandemic, real estate developers started innovating their marketing strategies which included financial benefits, discount, and easy payment options to attract buyers.”

While the overall real estate sector dynamics continue to remain strained, he said there has been a meaningful improvement in sales in the September quarter.

“Home loan rates at a multi-decade low of sub 7 per cent, fall in residential prices, aggressive marketing of ready inventory and indirect discounts to the buyers – have helped move the demand needle in Q3 2020.

“Going forward, though the economic fundamentals continue to remain strong, economic recovery is faster than expected. The housing trend remains strong and is expected to continue in the first quarter of 2021,” Baijal said.

The average residential prices across 56 countries and territories worldwide grew by 4.5 per cent on an annual basis. (Source: The Indian Express)

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India’s rank slips 7 places at 54th in terms of housing prices appreciation globally.

27 States avail benefits of the “Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure” - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

27 States avail benefits of the “Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”.

All the States except Tamil Nadu have availed benefits of the newly announced scheme for “Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”. The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister on 12th October, 2020 as a part of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat package.

The Scheme is aimed at boosting capital expenditure by the State Governments who are facing difficult financial environment this year due to the shortfall in tax revenue arising from the COVID 19 pandemic. Capital Expenditure has a higher multiplier effect, enhancing the future productive capacity of the economy, and results in a higher rate of economy growth. Therefore, despite the adverse financial position of the Central Government, it was decided to extend a special assistance to the State Governments in respect of capital expenditure, in financial year 2020-21.

The Scheme has got very warm response from the State Governments. So far capital expenditure proposals of Rs. 9,879.61 crore of 27 States have been approved by the Ministry of Finance. An amount of Rs. 4,939.81 crore has already been released to the States as the first instalment under the scheme. State-wise allocation, approval granted and funds released is attached.

The capital expenditure projects have been approved in diverse sectors of economy like, Health, Rural Development, Water Supply, Irrigation, Power, Transport, Education, Urban Development.

The Scheme has three parts. Part –I of the scheme covers the north-eastern region. Under this part, Rs.200 crores is allocated to 7 north-eastern States (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura). In view of higher population and geographical area, Assam has been allocated Rs.450 crores under the scheme.

Part-II of the Scheme is, for all other States not included in Part-I.An amount of Rs.7,500 crores is earmarked for this part. This amount has been allocated amongst these States in proportion to their share of central tax as per the interim award of the 15th Finance Commission for the year 2020-21.

Part-III of the Scheme is aimed at pushing various citizen-centric reforms in the States. Under this Part, an amount of Rs.2000 crores is earmarked. This amount will be available only to those States who carry out at least 3 out of the 4 reforms specified by the Ministry of Finance in its letter dated 17th May, 2020 regarding reform linked additional borrowing permissions. The 4 reforms are - One Nation One Ration Card, Ease of doing Business Reform, Urban Local Body/ Utility Reform and Power Sector Reform. (Source: pib)

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27 States avail benefits of the “Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure”

Covid pandemic drove a record drop in global carbon emissions in 2020 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Covid pandemic drove a record drop in global carbon emissions in 2020.

• Global greenhouse gas emissions plunged by roughly 2.4 billion tons this year, a 7% drop from 2019 and the largest decline on record, triggered by worldwide Covid-19 restrictions.

• Researchers said emissions will likely rebound in 2021 and urged governments to prioritize a shift to clean energy and policies that tackle climate change in their economic recovery plans.

• A decline in transportation activity drove the global drop in carbon emissions. The U.S. had the largest drop in carbon emissions, 12%, followed by the European Union, at 11%. India saw a drop in emissions of 9%, and China had a drop of 1.7%.

Global greenhouse gas emissions plunged by roughly 2.4 billion tons this year, a 7% drop from 2019 and the largest decline on record, triggered by worldwide Covid-19 restrictions, according to new research from the University of East Anglia, the University of Exeter and the Global Carbon Project.

Researchers said carbon emissions will likely rebound in 2021 and urged governments to prioritize a shift to clean energy and policies that tackle climate change in their economic recovery plans.

Daily global carbon emissions dropped by 17% during the peak of pandemic lockdowns in April but have since surged and neared 2019 levels again, according to the report, published on Thursday in the journal Earth System Science Data.

“All elements are not yet in place for sustained decreases in global emission, and emissions are slowly edging back to 2019 levels,” Corinne Le Quere, a professor at the UEA’s School of Environmental Sciences, said in a statement.

“Government actions to stimulate the economy at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic can also help lower emissions and tackle climate change,” she added.

The U.S. saw the largest drop in carbon emissions, 12%, followed by the European Union, at 11%, the report said. In both, pandemic restrictions accelerated drops in the use of coal in electricity production and oil in transportation.

Among developing nations, India saw carbon emissions decline 9%, but China had a drop of just 1.7%. China’s lockdown measures happened earlier in the year and were shorter in duration, and restrictions on carbon emissions occurred on top of the country’s rising carbon emissions.

A decline in transportation activity drove the global drop in carbon emissions. Emissions from automobiles and air travel fell by about half during the peak of Covid restrictions in April and by December dropped about 10% and 40%, respectively, from 2019 levels, according to the report.

“Incentives that help accelerate the deployment of electric cars and renewable energy and support walking and cycling in cities are particularly timely given the extensive disturbance observed in the transport sector this year,” Le Quere said.

The historic drop in global emissions has also had a negligible effect on carbon concentrations in the atmosphere, which are heating up the Earth and worsening climate disasters, ice melt and sea-level rise.

In 2020 alone, climate change-fueled wildfires burned a record amount of land in the U.S. West and the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record devastated Central America and the Gulf Coast states.

“The climate system is driven by the total amount of CO2 put in the atmosphere over centuries,” said Glen Peters, a research director of the International Climate Research in Norway and a member of the Global Carbon Project.

“Even though emissions fell in 2020, they were still around the same levels as in 2012, and the drop is insignificant in comparison with the total amount of CO2 emitted over the past centuries,” he said.

While global carbon emissions have risen steadily over the last decades, researchers said that emissions growth has started to increase more slowly in recent years, largely due to changes in the production of coal.

“Global warming stops when emissions get to around zero, and Covid-19 has not changed that,” Peters said.

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Covid pandemic drove a record drop in global carbon emissions in 2020

Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1 can keep a 24/7 watch on Indian subcontinent, say ISRO veterans - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1 can keep a 24/7 watch on Indian subcontinent, say ISRO veterans.

Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) latest earth observation satellite GISAT-1, the launch of which was postponed by the space agency due to technical reasons on March 4, 2020, can keep a 24/7 watch on Indian subcontinent.

Though the launch was postponed for some time, ISRO veterans claimed that the the geo-imaging satellite GISAT-1, which is one of the first-of-its-kind satellites, is equipped with a very powerful telescope and very sensitive imaging sensors which have been developed indigenously.
Explaining reasons for placing the earth-observation satellites in GEO, Padma Shri Dr Mylswamy Annadurai, Programme Director Chandrayaan 1 and Mangalyaan, Vice President TN State Council for Science and Technology, said, ‘’Satellites in Low earth orbit can only click an image of a particular spot only 2-3 times a day, when they make a pass, but satellites in geostationary orbit (In sync with the movement of the earth) can constantly monitor a vast area. When a satellite is placed in GEO, it can click pictures of a particular spot in India or any spot that is visible to it, almost 24/7.’’
When asked if the image quality will not be adversely affected due to its distance of nearly 36000 km from earth, Annadurai said, ‘’It is true that the resolution and quality of an image would be affected due to the 36,000 km orbit at which the satellite is placed, but besides optical cameras, we can also use other infrared-based imaging sensors that are part of the satellite.’’
Replying to a question if there were other Indian satellites apart from communication satellites which have been placed in GEO, Annadurai said, ‘’Some of our earlier satellites such as Kalpana, INSAT 3D and INSAT 3DR can click images 24/7. INSAT 3D and 3DR are utilized for communication, monitoring climate, environment and for disaster management system and are placed in GSO.’’
‘’These are the satellites that help us track changing weather patterns every 15 minutes. While the earlier ones were multi-purpose satellites, the current satellite GISAT-1 is a more advanced version dedicated mainly to earth observation and can give higher resolution images and incorporates a different kind of technology,’’ he added.
Dr. Mylswamy Annadurai also explained how the new technology will change the functionality of the satellite and said, ‘’Some of our earlier generations of satellites like INSAT series had a scanning mirror in them, that moved east-west in a sweeping motion as a part of the image capturing process. However, since the satellites were also used for communications purposes(and are required to move in such a way that it appears fixed over a particular spot above the equator), the satellite was only moving on its GEO (in sync with the angular velocity of the earth). But since the GISAT is dedicated mainly for different kinds of earth observation, the satellite itself can rotate on an east-west, north-south axis to enable imaging of a specific region. In layman’s terms, its like tilting a handheld camera and moving it for getting the best shot.’’
Meanwhile, Padma Vibhushan Dr G Madhavan Nair, former Chairman, ISRO, said revealed some of the real world applications of the GISAT -1.
Nair said, ‘’If we have a natural calamity in a particular region or a region that has to be monitored, we can issue commands for the satellite to point towards that specific region, or a weather pattern such as a cyclone and look at it in more detail. Low earth orbit satellites can give us better quality pictures, but they can make a pass only every 110minutes or so. But in the case of GISAT, we can continuously observe the area. So if a region is affected by forest fires or floods, we will know it near-real time and (if required) can deploy the satellites in Low Earth Orbit to click high-resolution pictures to improve our awareness of the situation.’’
Explaining why ISRO calls it the first state-of-the-art agile earth observation satellite from Geostationary orbit, Nair said, ‘’As far as India is concerned this is the first-of-its-kind satellite. Basically this is a technology breakthrough as it requires a very powerful telescope and very sensitive imaging sensors which we have developed indigenously. We have been working on this technology for sometime.’’
The launch of ISRO’s GSLV-F10 rocket carrying the geo-imaging satellite GISAT-1, that was scheduled for 5:43 pm on Thursday, was postponed by the ISRO due to technical reasons. ISRO has said that a revised launch date would be announced in due course.
The GSLV rocket will be carrying what ISRO calls a state-of-the-art agile Earth Observation Satellite into Geo Stationary Transfer Orbit(GTO), which is 36,000 km at its farthest point from earth and 170km at its nearest point to earth.
After it is placed in GTO, the satellite would be issued a series of commands to fire its Liquid Apogee Motor(LAM) for a few sequential burns, until it is placed in Geostationary orbit (GEO) of 36000km circular from where the satellite would be seen stationary to all the points from the earth.
According to ISRO, the satellite is meant to provide near real time imaging of large regions of interest at frequent intervals, quick monitoring of natural disasters, episodic events and also obtain spectral signatures for agriculture, forestry, mineralogy, disaster warning, cloud properties, snow & glaciers and oceanography.
While conventionally, earth-observation satellites are placed in Low-Earth orbit (between 500 and 2000kms), to ensure high resolution imagery, better capabilities, it is pertinent to note that ISRO’s latest agile earth-observation satellite is to be placed in 36,000kms away. The GEO orbit is generally meant for Communication Satellites that are required to relay signals across a vast landmass. Being placed in the 36,000km circular orbit would also mean that the 2268kg GISAT-1 is beyond the range of Anti-satellite missiles. (Source: pib)

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Geo Imaging Satellite GISAT-1 can keep a 24/7 watch on Indian subcontinent, say ISRO veterans.

Mudflats: The world’s great coastal protectors - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Mudflats: The world’s great coastal protectors.

The rising levels of our global seas pose serious threats to low-lying coastal communities.

The rising levels of our global seas poses serious threats to low-lying coastal communities. Nature itself can go some way to offering a solution.
As muddy as they are flat, mudflats don’t necessarily have the draw of golden sands and coastal cliffs, but in an era of rising sea levels, theses sprawling areas of inter tidal zones offer unsung protection to shoreline communities all over the world.

Nestled toward the upper reaches of the northern hemisphere, Germany might still seem largely out of reach of the long arm of global warming. But off the country’s northwest coast are a handful of small marsh islands, home to a tiny population, where the realities of climate change are already lapping at the door.
Known as Halligen, or hallig islands, they are unique in that even those that are inhabited are frequently flooded by the wilds of the North Sea that swirl around them. With few to no sea defenses to protect them, residents have lived with the encroaching salty waters for centuries, but as global sea levels rise, some locals on hallig Hooge are beginning to question how much longer they can realistically stay.
Across the Wadden Sea — the world’s largest tidal flat system and a UNESCO World Heritage site — from Hooge is the emerald green island of Pellworm. A remnant from a much larger area of coastal land that was swallowed during a savage storm surge hundreds of years ago, Pellworm is now completely surrounded by giant protective dikes.
Locals will not countenance life without them. Their removal, says Knud Knudsen— a local who walks across the mudflats from Pellworm to Suderoog to deliver mail — would spell the end of the island where he has lived his whole life.
But it’s not only land and all those it supports that is threatened by rising seas in this corner of Germany. The entire tidal flat system is at risk of drowning beneath the water that currently exposes its ever-changing shapes and sands twice daily.
And that, in turn would leave the millions of birds that arrive from all corners of the world to nest, feed and breed in the mudflats and salt marshes, with nowhere to go. That, in Germany as in other areas of inter-tidal zones, would disrupt finely tuned ecosystems that are home to worms, snails, crabs, fish, seals, birds, dolphins and many more species beyond.
It would also affect tourism and the way people live. In some low-lying areas around the world, conservationists are trying to find ways to work with the sea to meet the challenges of its assent. Rather than just relying on dikes and walls, they are making a case for returning sections of land to the sea through what is known as managed retreat, or managed realignment. It’s a controversial process, but they argue that if it is adopted in the right locations, it can enable the ocean, wildlife and humans to live alongside one another. (Source: The Indian Express)


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Mudflats: The world’s great coastal protectors.

OIC voice concern over Citizenship Act, says closely following developments - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

OIC voice concern over Citizenship Act, says closely following developments.

The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations, including Pakistan. The body has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with Islamabad in its disputes with India

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday said it was "closely" following the recent developments "affecting" Muslims in India as it voiced concern over the Citizenship Amendment Act and the verdict in the Ayodhya case.

The OIC is a 57-member grouping of Muslim majority nations, including Pakistan. The body has usually been supportive of Pakistan and often sided with Islamabad in its disputes with India.
"The General Secretariat of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has been closely following recent developments affecting Muslim minority in India,” the OIC said in a brief statement.
The body "expresses its concern over the recent developments pertaining to both the issue of citizenship rights and the Babri Masjid case," the statement said.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed by the Parliament and signed into law by the President this month.
According to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship.
The OIC urged the Indian government to ensure the safety of the Muslim minority and the protection of their religious sites.
It "reaffirms the crucial importance of upholding the principles and obligations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and relevant international covenants that guarantee the rights of minorities without any discrimination," the statement said.
It also cautioned that "any action, contrary to these principles and obligations, may lead to further tensions and may have serious implications on peace and security across the region." (Source: The Business Standard)


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OIC voice concern over Citizenship Act, says closely following developments.

Ration cards to look similar across country - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Ration cards to look similar across country.

Currently, the central government’s ambitious initiative is being implemented on a pilot basis in a cluster of six States.

The Centre has designed a standard format for ration cards as it moves ahead with ‘one nation, one ration card’ initiative and has asked State governments to follow the pattern while issuing fresh ration cards.

Currently, the central government’s ambitious initiative is being implemented on a pilot basis in a cluster of six States. It wants to implement this facility across the country from June 1, 2020.
Under the initiative, eligible beneficiaries would be able to avail their entitled foodgrains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from any Fair Price Shop in the country using the same ration card.
“In order to achieve the aim of national portability, it is necessary that ration cards issued by different States and Union Territories conform to a standard format. Accordingly, a format for standardised ration card has been prepared for issue of ration card under the NFSA,” a senior Food Ministry official said.
A standard format for ration card has been prepared after taking into account the format used by different States and after consultation with other stakeholders, the official said.
The State governments have been advised to use this new format whenever the States decides to issue new ration cards, the official added.
Elaborating more, the official said the standardised ration card includes the requisite minimum details of the ration card holder and States can add more details as per their requirement.
For national portability, the State governments have been asked to issue the ration card in bi-lingual format, wherein besides the local langauge, the other language could be Hindi or English.
The States have also been told to have a 10-digit standard ration card number, wherein first two digits will be State code and the next two digits will be running ration card numbers.
Besides this, a set of another two digits will be appended with ration card number to create unique member IDs for each member of the household in a ration card, the official added.
Under the NFSA, about 75 crore beneficiaries have been covered so far against the target of 81.35 crore, as per official data. (Source: The Hindu)


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Ration cards to look similar across country.

Parliament passes the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Parliament passes the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019.

Parliament passed the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 today. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri G. Kishan Reddy addressed the Rajya Sabha and said that the bill has been brought to provide for merger of union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, in view of fruitful utilization of manpower, improve administrative efficiency, reduce administrative expenditure and improve service delivery as well as facilitate better monitoring of schemes. It would also ensure better cadre management of employees, he added.

Shri Reddy said that there will be no change in administration and service conditions and reservation. Similarly, there will be no change in the status of Group III and IV employees. The merger would bring about administrative convenience, speedy development and effective implementation of central and state government schemes. The new entity would be called the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu and would be governed under the jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court, he added.
Informing about the rationale behind bringing the amendment, Shri Reddy said that there are two secretariats and parallel departments which consume infrastructure and manpower in each Union territory. The Administrator, Secretaries, and Heads of certain departments functions in both the Union territories on alternate days affecting their availability to people and monitoring functioning of subordinate staff. The subordinate employees of both the Union territories are separate. Further, various departments of the Government of India have to co-ordinate with both the Union territories separately, causing duplication of works.
Having two separate constitutional and administrative entities in both the Union territories leads to lot of duplicity, inefficiency and wasteful expenditure. Further, this also causes unnecessary financial burden on the Government. Besides these, there are various challenges for cadre management and career progression of employees. Availability of more officers and infrastructure would help in more efficient implementation of flagship schemes of the government, the Shri Reddy said.
The bill was earlier passed by Lok Sabha on November 27, 2019 (Source:pib)


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Parliament passes the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019.

IEA projects rapid increase in installed solar capacity by 2040 - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

IEA projects rapid increase in installed solar capacity by 2040.

However, it expects carbon dioxide emissions to continue rising for decades.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has projected a rapid increase in installed capacity of solar power by 2040, from 495 GW now to 3,142 GW, in its latest World Energy Outlook (WEO).
This is a massive departure from its previous stance as the projected capacity addition trend now is almost the exact opposite of the projection made in 2018.
The strong growth of solar has now been projected on account to optimistic policy changes around the world, including China’s partial reversal of a decision to reduce subsidies; India’s announced target of 450 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030; and strengthening of some renewables portfolio standards in the United States.
Despite turning bullish on solar, IEA remains conservative in its projections compared to other energy thinktanks such as the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) which in its recently released 'Future of Solar Photovoltaic' report projected solar growth to be over 6,000 GW by 2040.
IEA is an inter-governmental organisation established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The WEO is its flagship publication.
In the 2019 edition, IEA projects a ‘profound shift’ in global energy systems, with rapid increase in the installed solar capacity by 2040, flattening of coal-based power generation and a decline in reliance of oil.
However, it expects (CO2) emissions to continue rising for decades unless polices reflect greater ambition on climate change. This is primarily due to the longevity of the existing stock of coal-based plants, which account for 30 per cent of all energy-related emissions.
In the developing countries of Asia where the majority of the new plants are located, the average age of coal-based plants is just 12 years.
Mapped climate scenarios
The report models three policy scenarios. The first is the Current Policy scenario where the world continues to function according to the old regulations and the energy demand rises annually by 1.3 per cent by 2040.
The second scenario is the Stated Policy Scenario, formerly known as New Policies Scenario, which incorporates new policies already announced by governments, where the energy demand rises by one per cent per year.
The third, more ambitious, Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS) scenario charts out a path aligning with the Paris agreement to maintain the global temperature well below two degrees Celsius (°C) and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5°C.
However, the report does not define a pathway for the world’s temperature increase to remain below or at 1.5°C from the pre-industrial levels.
Additionally, the SDS comes quite close to the Stated Policies scenario, with the additional reliance on carbon sequestration beyond 2050 to overcome the overshoot. IEA points to the difficulty in the sustainable delivery of an extensive end-of-century deployment plan.
Importantly, IEA doesn’t see energy-related CO2 peaking by 2040 due to economic growth and population increases.

Change in energy mix
Under the Stated Policy scenario, solar surges ahead of coal and gas to become the largest source of installed power by 2035, if stated policies and targets are perused.
Growth of coal-based capacity is expected to decline marginally post-2020, and remain around 2100 GW.
As for generation, the share of renewable generation could nearly double, from 26 per cent today to 44 per cent to 2040, surpassing coal-based generation in 2026.

IEA’s past projections
The IEA has long faced criticism for being overtly bullish with its prediction of coal and other fossil fuel dependence, and underpaying the importance being gained by solar PV.
For instance, in its WEO 2012 report, IEA had suggested that solar capacity will grow by 15 GW in 2015. However, in reality, the solar capacity in 2015 was 52 GW.
Even in successive publications following the 2012 report, the projected amount for 2015 remained lower than actual. Similarly, its 2013 report projected a growth of 29 GW by 2018 whereas the actual in 2018 was close to 108 GW.
Moreover, in its 2016 projection it suggested a decline in solar capacity growth post 2035.


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IEA projects rapid increase in installed solar capacity by 2040.

DRDO successfully conducts Agni II missile’s night trial for first time - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

DRDO successfully conducts Agni II missile’s night trial for first time.

• The Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army test-fired the versatile surface-to-surface medium-range nuclear-capable missile from launching complex IV
• Developed by the DRDO, the missile has already been inducted into the armed forces
India on Saturday successfully conducted the first night trial of nuclear capable intermediate range ballistic missile Agni-II from the Abdul Kalam Island off the Odisha coast.

The Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army test-fired the versatile surface-to-surface medium-range nuclear-capable missile from launching complex IV of the Integrated Test Range on Saturday evening, defence sources said.
Developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the missile has already been inducted into the armed forces.
The 20-metre long, two stage ballistic missile has a strike range of 2,000 km. It has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg, the sources said.


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DRDO successfully conducts Agni II missile’s night trial for first time

NITI Aayog, CII draft plan to improve air quality - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

NITI Aayog, CII draft plan to improve air quality.

• A joint report by NITI Aayog and CII proposes steps to tackle emissions from construction and demolition as well as production and transportation of construction material
• CII says clean air action in the national capital region requires greater accountability from local agencies or authorities
Incentives to use cleaner construction material, less polluting fuel for power generation and tighter norms for use of diesel in power generation are among steps required to improve air quality in the national capital region, a high level report said.
The “report on clean industry" jointly prepared by federal think tank NITI Aayog and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) proposes steps to tackle emissions from construction and demolition as well as production and transportation of construction material. It also proposes policy measures to reduce energy-related emissions from diesel generators, thermal power plants and brick kilns. The proposals include promotion of clean construction practices, compulsory provisions for air quality management during construction and penalty by local bodies for violations, according to the report that will released on Monday.

A statement from CII said clean air action in the national capital region requires greater accountability from local agencies or authorities. Stringent penalties are proposed for public and private agencies alike, if they are found to be violating air quality standards and norms in their jurisdictions and operations, it said. “If we wish to breathe fresh air, it is imperative for the industry to adopt the recommendations of the report across sectors, be it manufacturing, energy generation or construction; and embed it into its business strategy, policies and future plans. Businesses should shift from environmental compliance to environmental stewardship for the sake of healthy planet," said the statement quoting CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee. (Source: Livemint)


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NITI Aayog, CII draft plan to improve air quality.

Tap water quality best in Mumbai, most unsafe in Delhi, finds Bureau of Indian Standards - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Tap water quality best in Mumbai, most unsafe in Delhi, finds Bureau of Indian Standards.

Mumbai tops the ranking for tap water quality while Delhi is at the bottom, with 11 out of 11 samples failing on 19 parameters.

Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday said that tap water in Delhi and several other cities did not comply with the requirements according to a study conducted by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

“Mumbai tops ranking released by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) for quality of tap water. Delhi is at the bottom, with 11 out of 11 samples failing on 19 parameters,” Paswan said while addressing a press conference here on Saturday. “We were getting complaints regarding water from all over the country. We asked for some samples of water from Delhi. The tap water from Delhi did not meet the Indian Standards. Later, we asked for water samples from all state headquarters,” he said.
The minister said that the government aims to provide clean drinking water to the people.
“Most children fall sick due to water-related diseases. The water quality standards is not mandatory. It should be made mandatory. We have also asked the chief ministers of states to order an investigation into it,” he said.
The study was conducted as per directions of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs Food & PD to check the quality of piped drinking water being supplied in the country in keeping with the objectives of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
In the first phase, samples of drinking water were drawn from various locations across Delhi and in the second phase samples were drawn from 20 other state capitals, and sent for testing as per Indian Standards.
“In the city of Delhi, all the 11 samples drawn did not comply with the requirements of the Indian Standard. The samples failed in several of the parameters. All the 10 samples drawn from Mumbai were found to comply with the requirements of the IS,” an official release said.
In Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Ranchi, Raipur, Amravati, and Shimla, one or more samples did not comply with the requirements.
None of the samples drawn from Chandigarh, Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, Bhopal, Guwahati, Bengaluru, Gandhinagar, Lucknow, Jammu, Jaipur, Dehradun, Chennai, Kolkata complied with the requirements.
In the third phase, samples from the capital cities of north eastern states and SmartCities identified by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs have been drawn and are being tested. The results of the study are expected by January 15, 2020, read the release.
Paswan said that it is proposed to test samples drawn from all district headquarters of the country, and their testing is planned to be completed by 15th August 2020 in the fourth phase.


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Tap water quality best in Mumbai, most unsafe in Delhi, finds Bureau of Indian Standards.