Maritime India Summit, 2016:-
About:-Maritime India Summit 2016 (MIS 2016) is a maiden flagship initiative of Ministry of Shipping, Government of India that will provide a unique global platform for investors to explore potential business opportunities in the Indian Maritime Sector.
The Summit will showcase exciting investment opportunities in:
- Shipbuilding, Ship Repair and Ship Recycling
- Port Modernization and New Port Development
- Port-based Industrial Development, Port-based Smart Cities and Maritime Cluster Development
- Hinterland Connectivity Projects and Multi-Modal Logistics Hubs
- Inland Waterways and Coastal Shipping for Cargo and Passenger movement
- Dredging
- Lighthouse Tourism and Cruise Shipping
- Renewable Energy Projects in Ports
- Other Maritime Sector related services (Financing, Legal, Design etc.)
India has 12 Major Ports, administered by the Central Government, and around 200 notified Non-Major Ports, administered by the State Governments. In 2014-15, out of the 200 Non-Major Ports, 69 ports were reported to have handled cargo traffic.
The infrastructure sector, particularly the Maritime Sector, is expected to grow significantly with the increase in international and domestic trade volumes. Since about 95% of India’s trade by volume is via the maritime route (Source : NTDPC), there is a continuous need to develop India’s ports and trade related infrastructure to accelerate growth in the manufacturing industry and to aid the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. Of the total navigable length of 14,500 km, 5200 km of the river and 4000 km of canals can be used by mechanized crafts. Freight transportation by waterways is highly underutilised in the country as compared to countries and regions like the United States, China and the European Union. India has recognized 106 waterways of which 6 are declared as national waterways. Economic viability of a waterway to carry traffic as an alternative to rail and road depends on its length which should be a minimum 500 km and 250 km for both cases respectively. Apart from this, it should have a large hinterland coverage area and potential in order to generate enough traffic on routes.
Globally domestic waterways are found to be cost effective as well as environmentally friendly means of transporting freight. This is also true in India – for instance, the cost of moving coal via coastal shipping is one-sixth of the cost of moving it by the currently preferred means of railways.
Key Initiatives
- Development of NW5 – The significance of NW5 lies in its location close to Talcher-Paradip region which is abundant in resources and industries and therefore provide opportunities for evacuation of different commodities including thermal coal, coking coal and iron-ore. Financial considerations in terms of revenue and expenditure for both the barge owners and IWAI present a strong case for moving cargo on NW5 after relevant infrastructural improvements. A number of steps in terms of infrastructural projects are required to be undertaken to make the project feasible. These include dredging to ensure minimum draft of 2.5-3 m and ensuring channel width of 55-60 m. Other steps include building atleast 5 barrages or navigational locks and a barge jetty/terminal at Paradip, Talcher and Kalinganagar.
- Development of NW4 – This waterway which connects the upcoming capital of Amaravati to the coastal parts of the state is extremely important for the development of new industrial hinterlands proposed under the various nodes of Visakhapatnam Chennai Industrial Corridor. The stretch will have a potential to transport 3-5 MTPA of bulk commodities by 2020.
- Development of NW2 – This waterway, stretching for a distance of 891 km from Dhubri to Sadiya, has immense potential to cater to the traffic in the north eastern region of the country. Basic commodities like foodgrains, fertilizers, etc. can be transported through the route.
- Development of NW1 – With a length of 1620 km, NW1 is the longest waterway in India. It is a stretch of the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hoogly river system from Allahabad to Haldia. Key opportunities lie in 11 major power plants being located on the banks of NW1 with a cumulative capacity of 12,000 MW as well as multiple chemical and food exporters in UP and West Bengal.
India’s economy has surged ahead in recent years. The pressures of a growing economy have naturally pushed its transport system to full capacity. The movement of bulk commodities is one of the major responsibilities of India’s transportation system. Thermal coal alone accounts for around 61 percent of the freight volume on the Indian Railways and 24 percent of the seaport freight mix.Water currently contributes less than 10 percent to India’s modal mix. China uses its inland waterways to transport raw material and finished goods between Eastern and Western provinces; water contributes 24 percent to China’s freight modal mix. Australia carries 17 percent of goods through coastal shipping. In Germany, 11 percent of goods are moved through inland waterways and coastal shipping. A strong economic case for coastal movement can be made for most of the key commodities.
The Indian Shipbuilding and Ship Repair industry primarily comprises firms that develop, build and repair – ships, underwater equipment and naval architectures for the shipping industry, fishing industry, naval defence and extraction of ocean resources. A growing Indian economy, favorable government policies and incentives framework, a long coastline and growing sea borne trade present a huge business opportunity within the Indian Shipbuilding Ship Repair and Ship Recycling industry.
Three marine clusters for India could include:
- Gujarat – Combining the steel cluster at Hazira, upcoming automobile cluster at Sanand, Shipyard at Pipavav, Ship-breaking yard at Alang, and Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.
- Tamil Nadu – Combining the automotive clusters at Chennai and Ennore and proposed new steel cluster near Chennai/Ennore.
- Andaman & Nicobar Islands – Marine cluster to leverage the potential of the region for tourism and possibly MRO services for ships passing through the international east-west trade route
Green initiatives for Major Ports:
- In order to promote the use of green energy at the Major Ports, the Ministry of Shipping has recently introduced an incentive scheme under which the Ministry will share up to 50% of the total project cost that promote the use of green energy, such as, waste water treatment, renewable energy generation and the use of Bio-diesel. Each Port will be given a financial grant up to Rs 25 crore (US$ 4 Million) for undertaking these projects.
Marine environmental pollution monitoring:
- Anti-fouling System Convention of International Maritime Organization has been incorporated in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.
- Anti-fouling certificates will be issued to all Indian vessels bearing 400 gross tonnage or more.
Use of bio-diesel at Haldia Dock Complex:
- Environment friendly, bio-diesel is used for operations of locomotives.
- It has resulted in reduction in the consumption of high speed diesel and in turn reduced environmental pollution.
Lighthouse Tourism
India has as many as 189 lighthouses dotting its vast coast line including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea. Steeped in rich maritime heritage, each lighthouse has a tremendous tourism potential.
The Ministry of Shipping through the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) has drawn up a programme for developing tourism in the land adjacent to 78 lighthouses, in the first phase, under Public Private Partnership (PPP). The key objective of this initiative is to enhance development of the existing lighthouses and its surrounding areas into a unique maritime tourism landmark. This initiative also offers investment opportunities related to development of hotels, resorts, viewing galleries, adventure sports, thematic restaurant and allied tourism facilities at the proposed lighthouse location
Facts and Figures of Indian Maritime Sector:-
- India is one of the fastest growing major economies in the world with an expected GDP growth rate of 7.5% in 2015-16
- India’s long coastline of 7,517 km and a navigable inland waterways of 14,426 km offers immense potential for development
- 4th most attractive FDI destination in the World as per UNCTAD
- Over the last decade, seaborne trade has grown at twice the global growth rate of 3.3%
- Maritime Container trade has grown at 6.5%, which is higher than the world average of 5.4% over the past 10 years (FY 2005 – 2015)
- Cargo traffic at Indian ports has doubled to 1 billion tonnes per annum over the last decade (FY 2005 – 2015) and is expected to reach 1.7 billion tonnes per annum by 2022
- US$ 2.6 Bn invested in Ports and Shipping sector between 2011 and 2014
- 150 + projects identified in Indian maritime sector offering numerous investment opportunities.
Major Ports in India:-
Ancient Ports of India:-
- Barygaza – which today is known as Bharuch in Gujarat;
- Lothal in Gujrat
- Muziris which today is known as Kodungallur near Cochin in Kerala;
- Korkai which is today’s Tuticorin;
- Kaveripattinam which is in Nagapattanam District of Tamil Nadu;
- Arikamedu which is in Ariyankuppam District of Puducherry
National Agriculture Market(NAM)
Background:-
Details :-
With nearly 58 per cent of its people continuing to depend upon agriculture for their livelihood, the critical role of the sector cannot be gain said. Agriculture sector is also highly vulnerable to the vicissitudes of nature that impact the crop enterprise at its production stage.
Further, the sector is also exposed to the current weaknesses of the agricultural marketing system. The annual income of a farmer depends upon both yield and the price that his produce fetches. While the Government has rolled out large number of programmes to improve yield levels on a sustainable basis, it recognises the need for creating a competitive market structure in the country that will generate marketing efficiency. Only when the market is integrated over space and time, can market efficiency be realised.
Integration of agri-markets across the country through the e-platform is seen as an important measure for overcoming the challenges posed by the present agri-marketing system namely – fragmentation of State into multiple market areas, each administered by separate APMC, multiple levy of mandi fees, requirement for multiple license for trading in different APMCs, licensing barriers leading to conditions of monopoly, poor quality of infrastructure and low use of technology, information asymmetry, opaque process for price discovery, high level of market charges, movement controls, etc. The need to unify the markets both at State and National level is, therefore, clearly the requirement of time, in order to provide better price to farmers, improve supply chain, reduce wastages and create a unified national market.
For integration with the e-platform the States/UTs will need to undertake prior reforms in respect of (i) a single license to be valid across the State, (ii) single point levy of market fee and (iii) provision for electronic auction as a mode for price discovery. Only those States/UTs that have completed these three pre-requisites will be eligible for assistance under the scheme.
The e-marketing platform should promote reform of the agricultural marketing sector and apart from promoting free flow of agri commodities across the country should result in greater farmer satisfaction as the prospects for marketing of his produce would be significantly enhanced. He will have improved access to market related information and better price discovery through a more efficient, transparent and competitive marketing platform which gives him access to a greater number of buyers within the State and from outside, through transparent auction processes. It would also increase his access to markets through warehouse based sales and thus obviate the need to transport his produce to the mandi.
The Why , What and How:-
Why is the National Agriculture Market (NAM) a necessity today?
The purpose behind NAM is the creation of a common national market for agricultural commodities through an e-platform network. At present, agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) regulate market yards, limiting the scope of trading in agricultural commodities at the first point of sale where farmers bring in their produce following the harvest at a mandi located nearby. Mandis located across a state are not integrated and there are substantial transaction costs for moving the produce from one mandi to another within a state. Separate licences for each mandi are required for trading in different market areas within a state. This has led to a highly fragmented market and there is a high transaction cost for buying and selling agricultural commodities. Besides, it creates barriers for free movement of agricultural goods across the country.
NAM is an online platform with a physical market or mandi at the backend. Agriculture ministry officials say that NAM is not a parallel marketing structure but rather an instrument to create a national network of physical mandis which can be accessed online. According to the official document, NAM seeks to leverage the physical infrastructure of mandis through an online trading portal, enabling buyers situated even outside the state to participate in trading at the local level.
What is the government’s plan for developing NAM?
The electronic platform under NAM is being created through a special software developed by the agriculture ministry and the same is provided to each mandi—which agrees to come on board—free of cost. There are some basic criteria for a state to integrate into NAM. For instance, the concerned state must amend its APMC Acts by bringing in provision for electronic trading. Besides, states must provide a single licence to anyone willing to trade through NAM in a local mandi.
The agriculture ministry is aiming at integrating 200 markets in NAM by September 2016; 200 more regulated markets would be integrated with NAM by March 2017 and the rest 185 markets by March 2018.
How will NAM function and what are the benefits that it would bring?
NAM increases the choice for a farmer after he brings in his produce to a mandi. Local traders can bid for the produce, as also traders on the electronic platform sitting in other states. The farmer may choose to accept either the local offer or online. In either case, the transaction will be on the books of the local mandi and they will continue to earn the transaction fee. With more mandis coming onto the NAM platform, the volume of business will significantly increase, as there will be greater competition for specific produce, resulting in higher transaction fees for a mandi. Agriculture ministry officials say that the gradual integration of all major mandis into NAM e-platform would ensure common procedures for issue of licences, levy of fee and movement of produce.
Over 5-7 years, the ministry expects significant benefits through higher returns to farmers, lower transaction costs for buyers, and stable prices and availability to consumers. “NAM will also facilitate the emergence of integrated value chains in major agricultural commodities across the country and help promote scientific storage and movement of agri goods,” the official document on NAM notes.
Does this imply that various taxes and levies imposed by APMCs will be subsumed in NAM?
According to agriculture ministry officials, NAM—which is currently being implemented through the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (a body under the agriculture ministry)—would not lead to reduction in various levies imposed by states besides mandi taxes. However, because of single registration given to traders in a state, this would lead to payment of mandi taxes only at one place even if the concerned trader is buying commodities through the NAM platform in multiple markets across a state. The government is aiming at reduction in taxes and levies imposed by states in the next phase of reforms.
How will quality checks and payment systems work under NAM?
The concerned APMC—which has agreed to be part of NAM—will ensure quality standards of agricultural goods sold through its platform. NAM envisages harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural produce and provisions of assaying (quality testing) infrastructure in every market to enable informed bidding by buyers. By end-March, as many as 14 states amended their respective APMC Acts for making provisions for e-trading. These are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
Are existing APMCs or mandis capable of handling NAM?
Experts say that infrastructure available for NAM at local markets varies from state to state. The NAM platform is being supported by agriculture ministry, which is bearing maintenance costs for each mandi. The integration cost for local mandis and customisation of software, training, etc, will also be paid for by the ministry as a one-time grant of around R30 lakh at the time of accepting the mandi in the national network. However, the running costs of the software at the local level, staff costs for quality check, etc, will be met with the transaction fee to be generated through the sale of produce. The key reason behind this support is to avoid any upfront investment by the mandi when it integrates into NAM, and enable it to support the running cost through additional generation of revenue.
How will NAM operate in the current form?
The 21 mandis where NAM is being formally launched would offer trading in commodities such as chana, castor seed, paddy, wheat, maize, onion, mustard and tamarind. But fruits and vegetables, where there often are prices fluctuations, are yet to be included in the NAM platform. Besides, the country’s two biggest mandis—Azadpur (Delhi) and Vashi (Mumbai)—have not yet agreed to come on board. A number of states which have amended their APMC Acts are yet to make changes for allowing the sale of fruits and vegetables through e-trading platform. Farmers face price volatility in selling fruits and vegetables as these are perishable, while in case of other commodities such as grains and pulses there are several traders involved in procurement.
What needs to be done from here?
Experts say that as long as fruits and vegetables are kept outside the purview of NAM, the volatility in prices would continue, thus depriving farmers from getting better prices. Barriers hampering interstate transfer of agricultural commodities also have to be removed. High taxes and levies imposed by states such as Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh on agricultural commodities trade have to be brought down; this would boost interstate trade and farmers’ income.
World output faces risk of 3.9 % drop by 2021
The decline in oil prices has helped countries such as India improve their external positions, but low commodity prices have kept risks elevated in emerging market economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest Global Financial Stability Report.
- The financial stability report assesses the risks faced by the global financial system and the current edition surveys the issues that surfaced since October 2015.
- The spill-over effects of the growing uncertainty about China’s economy and setbacks to growth and confidence in advanced economies are other factors undermining global financial stability. These developments tightened financial conditions, reduced risk appetite, raised credit risks and stymied balance sheet repair.
- Global output could decline 3.9% by 2021 if action isn’t taken to address the risks faced by the financial system.
The main message of this report is that additional measures are needed to deliver a more balanced and potent policy mix for improving the growth and inflation outlook and securing financial stability. In the absence of such measures, market turmoil may recur. However, if timely measures are taken, world output could expand by 1.7%, relative to the baseline, by 2018.
The report identifies a window of opportunity in the current economic recovery to deal with what it calls a “triad of global challenges,” namely, the legacy issues in advanced economies, vulnerabilities in emerging markets and greater systemic market liquidity risks. IMF suggests that in advanced economies, banks must deal with bad assets and other legacy issues.
Recent Posts
- Floods
- Cyclones
- Tornadoes and hurricanes (cyclones)
- Hailstorms
- Cloudburst
- Heat wave and cold wave
- Snow avalanches
- Droughts
- Sea erosion
- Thunder/ lightning
- Landslides and mudflows
- Earthquakes
- Large fires
- Dam failures and dam bursts
- Mine fires
- Epidemics
- Pest attacks
- Cattle epidemics
- Food poisoning
- Chemical and Industrial disasters
- Nuclear
- Forest fires
- Urban fires
- Mine flooding
- Oil Spill
- Major building collapse
- Serial bomb blasts
- Festival related disasters
- Electrical disasters and fires
- Air, road, and rail accidents
- Boat capsizing
- Village fire
- Coastal States, particularly on the East Coast and Gujarat are vulnerable to cyclones.
- 4 crore hectare landmass is vulnerable to floods
- 68 per cent of net sown area is vulnerable to droughts
- 55 per cent of total area is in seismic zones III- V, hence vulnerable to earthquakes
- Sub- Himalayan sector and Western Ghats are vulnerable to landslides.
- Mainstreaming of Disaster Risk Reduction in Developmental Strategy-Prevention and mitigation contribute to lasting improvement in safety and should beintegrated in the disaster management. The Government of India has adopted mitigation and prevention as essential components of their development strategy.
- Mainstreaming of National Plan and its Sub-Plan
- National Disaster Mitigation Fund
- National Earthquake Risk Mitigation Project (NERMP)
- National Building Code (NBC):- Earthquake resistant buildings
- National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP)
- Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project (ICZMP)-The objective of the project is to assist GoI in building the national capacity for implementation of a comprehensive coastal management approach in the country and piloting the integrated coastal zone management approach in states of Gujarat, Orissa and West Bengal.
- National Flood Risk Mitigation Project (NFRMP)
- National Project for Integrated Drought Monitoring & Management
- National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme (NVBDCP)- key programme
for prevention/control of outbreaks/epidemics of malaria, dengue, chikungunya etc., vaccines administered to reduce the morbidity and mortality due to diseases like measles, diphtheria, pertussis, poliomyelitis etc. Two key measures to prevent/control epidemics of water-borne diseases like cholera, viral hepatitis etc. include making available safe water and ensuring personal and domestic hygienic practices are adopted. - Training
- Education
- Research
- Awareness
- Hyogo Framework of Action- The Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) 2005-2015 was adopted to work globally towards sustainable reduction of disaster losses in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of communities and countries.
- United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR)-In order to build the resilience of nations and communities to disasters through the implementation of the HFA , the UNISDR strives to catalyze, facilitate and mobilise the
commitment and resources of national, regional and international stakeholders of the ISDR
system. - United Nation Disaster Management Team (UNDMT) –
- To ensure a prompt, effective and concerted country-level support to a governmental
response in the event of a disaster, at the central, state and sub-state levels, - To coordinate UN assistance to the government with respect to long term recovery, disaster mitigation and preparedness.
- To coordinate all disaster-related activities, technical advice and material assistance provided by UN agencies, as well as to take steps for optimal utilisation of resources by UN agencies.
- To ensure a prompt, effective and concerted country-level support to a governmental
- Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction (GFDRR):-
- GFDRR was set up in September 2006 jointly by the World Bank, donor partners (21countries and four international organisations), and key stakeholders of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR). It is a long-term global partnership under the ISDR system established to develop and implement the HFA through a coordinated programme for reversing the trend in disaster losses by 2015.
- Its mission is to mainstream disaster reduction and climate change adaptation in a country’s development strategies to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards.
- ASEAN Region Forum (ARF)
- Asian Disaster Reduction Centre (ADRC)
- SAARC Disaster Management Centre (SDMC)
- Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER):-The Program for Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER) is a regional training programme initiated in 1998 by the United States Agency for International Development’s, Office of U.S Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) to strengthen disaster response capacities in Asia.
- Policy guidelines at the macro level that would inform and guide the preparation and
implementation of disaster management and development plans across sectors - Building in a culture of preparedness and mitigation
- Operational guidelines of integrating disaster management practices into development, and
specific developmental schemes for prevention and mitigation of disasters - Having robust early warning systems coupled with effective response plans at district, state
and national levels - Building capacity of all stakeholders
- Involving the community, NGOs, CSOs and the media at all stages of DM
- Addressing gender issues in disaster management planning and developing a strategy for
inclusive approach addressing the disadvantaged sections of the society towards disaster risk reduction. - Addressing climate risk management through adaptation and mitigation
- Micro disaster Insurance
- Flood Proofing
- Building Codes and Enforcement
- Housing Design and Finance
- Road and Infrastructure
A disaster is a result of natural or man-made causes that leads to sudden disruption of normal life, causing severe damage to life and property to an extent that available social and economic protection mechanisms are inadequate to cope.
The International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) of the United Nations (U.N.) defines a hazard as “a potentially damaging physical event, phenomenon or human activity that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.”
Disasters are classified as per origin, into natural and man-made disasters. As per severity, disasters are classified as minor or major (in impact). However, such classifications are more academic than real.
High Powered Committee (HPC) was constituted in August 1999 under the chairmanship of J.C.Pant. The mandate of the HPC was to prepare comprehensive model plans for disaster management at the national, state and district levels.
This was the first attempt in India towards a systematic comprehensive and holistic look at all disasters.
Thirty odd disasters have been identified by the HPC, which were grouped into the following five categories, based on generic considerations:-
Water and Climate Related:-
Geological:-
Biological:-
Chemical, industrial and nuclear:-
Accidental:-
India’s Key Vulnerabilities as articulated in the Tenth Plan, (2002-07) are as follows:
Vulnerability is defined as:-
“the extent to which a community, structure, service, or geographic area is likely to be damaged or disrupted by the impact of particular hazard, on account of their nature, construction and proximity to hazardous terrain or a disaster prone area”.
The concept of vulnerability therefore implies a measure of risk combined with the level of social and economic ability to cope with the resulting event in order to resist major disruption or loss.
Example:- The 1993 Marathwada earthquake in India left over 10,000 dead and destroyed houses and other properties of 200,000 households. However, the technically much more powerful Los Angeles earthquake of 1971 (taken as a benchmark in America in any debate on the much-apprehended seismic vulnerability of California) left over 55 dead.
Physical Vulnerability:-
Physical vulnerability relates to the physical location of people, their proximity to the hazard zone and standards of safety maintained to counter the effects.
The Indian subcontinent can be primarily divided into three geophysical regions with regard to vulnerability, broadly, as, the Himalayas, the Plains and the Coastal areas.
Socio-economic Vulnerability:-
The degree to which a population is affected by a calamity will not purely lie in the physical components of vulnerability but in contextual, relating to the prevailing social and economic conditions and its consequential effects on human activities within a given society.
Global Warming & Climate Change:-
Global warming is going to make other small local environmental issues seemingly insignificant, because it has the capacity to completely change the face of the Earth. Global warming is leading to shrinking glaciers and rising sea levels. Along with floods, India also suffers acute water shortages.
The steady shrinking of the Himalayan glaciers means the entire water system is being disrupted; global warming will cause even greater extremes. Impacts of El Nino and La Nina have increasingly led to disastrous impacts across the globe.
Scientifically, it is proven that the Himalayan glaciers are shrinking, and in the next fifty to sixty years they would virtually run out of producing the water levels that we are seeing now.
This will cut down drastically the water available downstream, and in agricultural economies like the plains of Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Bihar, which are poor places to begin with. That, as one may realise, would cause tremendous social upheaval.
Urban Risks:-
India is experiencing massive and rapid urbanisation. The population of cities in India is doubling in a period ranging just two decades according to the trends in the recent past.
It is estimated that by 2025, the urban component, which was only 25.7 per cent (1991) will be more than 50 per cent.
Urbanisation is increasing the risks at unprecedented levels; communities are becoming increasingly vulnerable, since high-density areas with poorly built and maintained infrastructure are subjected to natural hazards, environmental degradation, fires, flooding and earthquake.
Urbanisation dramatically increases vulnerability, whereby communities are forced to squat on environmentally unstable areas such as steep hillsides prone to landslide, by the side of rivers that regularly flood, or on poor quality ground, causing building collapse.
Most prominent amongst the disasters striking urban settlements frequently are, floods and fire, with incidences of earthquakes, landslides, droughts and cyclones. Of these, floods are more devastating due to their widespread and periodic impact.
Example: The 2005 floods of Maharashtra bear testimony to this. Heavy flooding caused the sewage system to overflow, which contaminated water lines. On August 11, the state government declared an epidemic of leptospirosis in Mumbai and its outskirts.
Developmental activities:-
Developmental activities compound the damaging effects of natural calamities. The floods in Rohtak (Haryana) in 1995 are an appropriate example of this. Even months after the floodwaters had receded; large parts of the town were still submerged.
Damage had not accrued due to floods, but due to water-logging which had resulted due to peculiar topography and poor land use planning.
Disasters have come to stay in the forms of recurring droughts in Orissa, the desertification of swaths of Gujarat and Rajasthan, where economic depredations continuously impact on already fragile ecologies and environmental degradation in the upstream areas of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Floods in the plains are taking an increasing toll of life, environment, and property, amplified by a huge population pressure.
The unrestricted felling of forests, serious damage to mountain ecology, overuse of groundwater and changing patterns of cultivation precipitate recurring floods and droughts.
When forests are destroyed, rainwater runs off causing floods and diminishing the recharging of groundwater.
The spate of landslides in the Himalayas in recent years can be directly traced to the rampant deforestation and network of roads that have been indiscriminately laid in the name of development.
Destruction of mangroves and coral reefs has increased the vulnerability of coastal areas to hazards, such as storm surges and cyclones.
Commercialisation of coastal areas, particularly for tourism has increased unplanned development in these areas, which has increased disaster potential, as was demonstrated during the Tsunami in December 2004.
Environmental Stresses:- " Delhi-Case Study"
Every ninth student in Delhi’s schools suffers from Asthma. Delhi is the world’s fourth most polluted city.
Each year, poor environmental conditions in the city’s informal areas lead to epidemics.
Delhi has one of the highest road accident fatality ratios in the world. In many ways, Delhi reflects the sad state of urban centers within India that are exposed to risks, which are misconstrued and almost never taken into consideration for urban governance.
The main difference between modernism and postmodernism is that modernism is characterized by the radical break from the traditional forms of urban architecture whereas postmodernism is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions.
Illustration of Disaster Cycle through Case Study:-
The processes covered by the disaster cycle can be illustrated through the case of the Gujarat Earthquake of 26 January 2001. The devastating earthquake killed thousands of people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of houses and other buildings.
The State Government as well as the National Government immediately mounted a largescale relief operation. The help of the Armed Forces was also taken.
Hundreds of NGOs from within the region and other parts of the country as well as from other countries of the world came to Gujarat with relief materials and personnel to help in the relief operations.
Relief camps were set up, food was distributed, mobile hospitals worked round the clock to help the injured; clothing, beddings, tents, and other commodities were distributed to the affected people over the next few weeks.
By the summer of 2001, work started on long-term recovery. House reconstruction programmes were launched, community buildings were reconstructed, and damaged infrastructure was repaired and reconstructed.
Livelihood programmes were launched for economic rehabilitation of the affected people.
In about two year’s time the state had bounced back and many of the reconstruction projects had taken the form of developmental programmes aiming to deliver even better infrastructure than what existed before the earthquake.
Good road networks, water distribution networks, communication networks, new schools, community buildings, health and education programmes, all worked towards developing the region.
The government as well as the NGOs laid significant emphasis on safe development practices. The buildings being constructed were of earthquake resistant designs.
Older buildings that had survived the earthquake were retrofitted in large numbers to strengthen them and to make them resistant to future earthquakes. Mason and engineer training programmes were carried out at a large scale to ensure that all future construction in the State is disaster resistant.
This case study shows how there was a disaster event during the earthquake, followed by immediate response and relief, then by recovery including rehabilitation and retrofitting, then by developmental processes.
The development phase included mitigation activities, and finally preparedness actions to face future disasters.
Then disaster struck again, but the impact was less than what it could have been, primarily due to better mitigation and preparedness efforts.
Looking at the relationship between disasters and development one can identify ‘four’ different dimensions to this relation:
1) Disasters can set back development
2) Disasters can provide development opportunities
3) Development can increase vulnerability and
4) Development can reduce vulnerability
The whole relationship between disaster and development depends on the development choice made by the individual, community and the nation who implement the development programmes.
The tendency till now has been mostly to associate disasters with negativities. We need to broaden our vision and work on the positive aspects associated with disasters as reflected below:
1)Evolution of Disaster Management in India
Disaster management in India has evolved from an activity-based reactive setup to a proactive institutionalized structure; from single faculty domain to a multi-stakeholder setup; and from a relief-based approach to a ‘multi-dimensional pro-active holistic approach for reducing risk’.
Over the past century, the disaster management in India has undergone substantive changes in its composition, nature and policy.
2)Emergence of Institutional Arrangement in India-
A permanent and institutionalised setup began in the decade of 1990s with set up of a disaster management cell under the Ministry of Agriculture, following the declaration of the decade of 1990 as the ‘International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction’ (IDNDR) by the UN General Assembly.
Consequently, the disaster management division was shifted under the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2002
3)Disaster Management Framework:-
Shifting from relief and response mode, disaster management in India started to address the
issues of early warning systems, forecasting and monitoring setup for various weather related
hazards.
National Level Institutions:-National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA):-
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was initially constituted on May 30, 2005 under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister vide an executive order.
SDMA (State Level, DDMA(District Level) also present.
National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC)
Legal Framework For Disaster Management :-
DMD- Disaster management Dept.
NIDM- National Institute of Disaster Management
NDRF – National Disaster Response Fund
Cabinet Committee on Disaster Management-
Location of NDRF Battallions(National Disaster Response Force):-
CBRN- Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear
Policy and response to Climate Change :-
1)National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)-
National Action Plan on Climate Change identified Eight missions.
• National Solar Mission
• National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
• National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency
• National Mission for Sustaining The Himalayan Ecosystem
• National Water Mission
• National Mission for Green India
• National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
• National Mission for Strategic Knowledge on Climate Change
2)National Policy on Disaster Management (NPDM),2009-
The policy envisages a safe and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive, multi-disaster oriented and technologydriven strategy through a culture of prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response. The policy covers all aspects of disaster management including institutional and legal arrangements,financial arrangements, disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness, techno-legal regime, response, relief and rehabilitation, reconstruction and recovery, capacity development, knowledge management, research and development. It focuses on the areas where action is needed and the institutional mechanism through which such action can be channelised.
Prevention and Mitigation Projects:-
Early Warning Nodal Agencies:-
Post Disaster Management :-Post disaster management responses are created according to the disaster and location. The principles being – Faster Recovery, Resilient Reconstruction and proper Rehabilitation.
Capacity Development:-
Components of capacity development includes :-
National Institute for Capacity Development being – National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM)
International Cooperation-
Way Forward:-
Principles and Steps:-
The United Nations has shaped so much of global co-operation and regulation that we wouldn’t recognise our world today without the UN’s pervasive role in it. So many small details of our lives – such as postage and copyright laws – are subject to international co-operation nurtured by the UN.
In its 75th year, however, the UN is in a difficult moment as the world faces climate crisis, a global pandemic, great power competition, trade wars, economic depression and a wider breakdown in international co-operation.
Still, the UN has faced tough times before – over many decades during the Cold War, the Security Council was crippled by deep tensions between the US and the Soviet Union. The UN is not as sidelined or divided today as it was then. However, as the relationship between China and the US sours, the achievements of global co-operation are being eroded.
The way in which people speak about the UN often implies a level of coherence and bureaucratic independence that the UN rarely possesses. A failure of the UN is normally better understood as a failure of international co-operation.
We see this recently in the UN’s inability to deal with crises from the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, to civil conflict in Syria, and the failure of the Security Council to adopt a COVID-19 resolution calling for ceasefires in conflict zones and a co-operative international response to the pandemic.
The UN administration is not primarily to blame for these failures; rather, the problem is the great powers – in the case of COVID-19, China and the US – refusing to co-operate.
Where states fail to agree, the UN is powerless to act.
Marking the 75th anniversary of the official formation of the UN, when 50 founding nations signed the UN Charter on June 26, 1945, we look at some of its key triumphs and resounding failures.
Five successes
1. Peacekeeping
The United Nations was created with the goal of being a collective security organisation. The UN Charter establishes that the use of force is only lawful either in self-defence or if authorised by the UN Security Council. The Security Council’s five permanent members, being China, US, UK, Russia and France, can veto any such resolution.
The UN’s consistent role in seeking to manage conflict is one of its greatest successes.
A key component of this role is peacekeeping. The UN under its second secretary-general, the Swedish statesman Dag Hammarskjöld – who was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace prize after he died in a suspicious plane crash – created the concept of peacekeeping. Hammarskjöld was responding to the 1956 Suez Crisis, in which the US opposed the invasion of Egypt by its allies Israel, France and the UK.
UN peacekeeping missions involve the use of impartial and armed UN forces, drawn from member states, to stabilise fragile situations. “The essence of peacekeeping is the use of soldiers as a catalyst for peace rather than as the instruments of war,” said then UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, when the forces won the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize following missions in conflict zones in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Central America and Europe.
However, peacekeeping also counts among the UN’s major failures.
2. Law of the Sea
Negotiated between 1973 and 1982, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) set up the current international law of the seas. It defines states’ rights and creates concepts such as exclusive economic zones, as well as procedures for the settling of disputes, new arrangements for governing deep sea bed mining, and importantly, new provisions for the protection of marine resources and ocean conservation.
Mostly, countries have abided by the convention. There are various disputes that China has over the East and South China Seas which present a conflict between power and law, in that although UNCLOS creates mechanisms for resolving disputes, a powerful state isn’t necessarily going to submit to those mechanisms.
Secondly, on the conservation front, although UNCLOS is a huge step forward, it has failed to adequately protect oceans that are outside any state’s control. Ocean ecosystems have been dramatically transformed through overfishing. This is an ecological catastrophe that UNCLOS has slowed, but failed to address comprehensively.
3. Decolonisation
The idea of racial equality and of a people’s right to self-determination was discussed in the wake of World War I and rejected. After World War II, however, those principles were endorsed within the UN system, and the Trusteeship Council, which monitored the process of decolonisation, was one of the initial bodies of the UN.
Although many national independence movements only won liberation through bloody conflicts, the UN has overseen a process of decolonisation that has transformed international politics. In 1945, around one third of the world’s population lived under colonial rule. Today, there are less than 2 million people living in colonies.
When it comes to the world’s First Nations, however, the UN generally has done little to address their concerns, aside from the non-binding UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 2007.
4. Human rights
The Human Rights Declaration of 1948 for the first time set out fundamental human rights to be universally protected, recognising that the “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”.
Since 1948, 10 human rights treaties have been adopted – including conventions on the rights of children and migrant workers, and against torture and discrimination based on gender and race – each monitored by its own committee of independent experts.
The language of human rights has created a new framework for thinking about the relationship between the individual, the state and the international system. Although some people would prefer that political movements focus on ‘liberation’ rather than ‘rights’, the idea of human rights has made the individual person a focus of national and international attention.
5. Free trade
Depending on your politics, you might view the World Trade Organisation as a huge success, or a huge failure.
The WTO creates a near-binding system of international trade law with a clear and efficient dispute resolution process.
The majority Australian consensus is that the WTO is a success because it has been good for Australian famers especially, through its winding back of subsidies and tariffs.
However, the WTO enabled an era of globalisation which is now politically controversial.
Recently, the US has sought to disrupt the system. In addition to the trade war with China, the Trump Administration has also refused to appoint tribunal members to the WTO’s Appellate Body, so it has crippled the dispute resolution process. Of course, the Trump Administration is not the first to take issue with China’s trade strategies, which include subsidises for ‘State Owned Enterprises’ and demands that foreign firms transfer intellectual property in exchange for market access.
The existence of the UN has created a forum where nations can discuss new problems, and climate change is one of them. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was set up in 1988 to assess climate science and provide policymakers with assessments and options. In 1992, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change created a permanent forum for negotiations.
However, despite an international scientific body in the IPCC, and 165 signatory nations to the climate treaty, global greenhouse gas emissions have continued to increase.
Under the Paris Agreement, even if every country meets its greenhouse gas emission targets we are still on track for ‘dangerous warming’. Yet, no major country is even on track to meet its targets; while emissions will probably decline this year as a result of COVID-19, atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases will still increase.
This illustrates a core conundrum of the UN in that it opens the possibility of global cooperation, but is unable to constrain states from pursuing their narrowly conceived self-interests. Deep co-operation remains challenging.
Five failures of the UN
1. Peacekeeping
During the Bosnian War, Dutch peacekeeping forces stationed in the town of Srebrenica, declared a ‘safe area’ by the UN in 1993, failed in 1995 to stop the massacre of more than 8000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces. This is one of the most widely discussed examples of the failures of international peacekeeping operations.
On the massacre’s 10th anniversary, then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote that the UN had “made serious errors of judgement, rooted in a philosophy of impartiality”, contributing to a mass murder that would “haunt our history forever”.
If you look at some of the other infamous failures of peacekeeping missions – in places such as Rwanda, Somalia and Angola – it is the limited powers given to peacekeeping operations that have resulted in those failures.
2. The invasion of Iraq
The invasion of Iraq by the US in 2003, which was unlawful and without Security Council authorisation, reflects the fact that the UN is has very limited capacity to constrain the actions of great powers.
The Security Council designers created the veto power so that any of the five permanent members could reject a Council resolution, so in that way it is programmed to fail when a great power really wants to do something that the international community generally condemns.
In the case of the Iraq invasion, the US didn’t veto a resolution, but rather sought authorisation that it did not get. The UN, if you go by the idea of collective security, should have responded by defending Iraq against this unlawful use of force.
The invasion proved a humanitarian disaster with the loss of more than 400,000 lives, and many believe that it led to the emergence of the terrorist Islamic State.
3. Refugee crises
The UN brokered the 1951 Refugee Convention to address the plight of people displaced in Europe due to World War II; years later, the 1967 Protocol removed time and geographical restrictions so that the Convention can now apply universally (although many countries in Asia have refused to sign it, owing in part to its Eurocentric origins).
Despite these treaties, and the work of the UN High Commission for Refugees, there is somewhere between 30 and 40 million refugees, many of them, such as many Palestinians, living for decades outside their homelands. This is in addition to more than 40 million people displaced within their own countries.
While for a long time refugee numbers were reducing, in recent years, particularly driven by the Syrian conflict, there have been increases in the number of people being displaced.
During the COVID-19 crisis, boatloads of Rohingya refugees were turned away by port after port. This tragedy has echoes of pre-World War II when ships of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany were refused entry by multiple countries.
And as a catastrophe of a different kind looms, there is no international framework in place for responding to people who will be displaced by rising seas and other effects of climate change.
4. Conflicts without end
Across the world, there is a shopping list of unresolved civil conflicts and disputed territories.
Palestine and Kashmir are two of the longest-running failures of the UN to resolve disputed lands. More recent, ongoing conflicts include the civil wars in Syria and Yemen.
The common denominator of unresolved conflicts is either division among the great powers, or a lack of international interest due to the geopolitical stakes not being sufficiently high. For instance, the inaction during the Rwandan civil war in the 1990s was not due to a division among great powers, but rather a lack of political will to engage.
In Syria, by contrast, Russia and the US have opposing interests and back opposing sides: Russia backs the government of the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, whereas the US does not.
5. Acting like it’s 1945
The UN is increasingly out of step with the reality of geopolitics today.
The permanent members of the Security Council reflect the division of power internationally at the end of World War II. The continuing exclusion of Germany, Japan, and rising powers such as India and Indonesia, reflects the failure to reflect the changing balance of power.
Also, bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank, which are part of the UN system, continue to be dominated by the West. In response, China has created potential rival institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Western domination of UN institutions undermines their credibility. However, a more fundamental problem is that institutions designed in 1945 are a poor fit with the systemic global challenges – of which climate change is foremost – that we face today.