UPSC/STATE PSC
Curated by Experts For Civil Service Aspirants
The Hindu & Indian Express
News 1: ‘India may need up to 28 GW in new coal-fired plants by 2032’
Background:
- India may need up to 28 gigawatts of new coal-fired power plants by 2032 to meet power demand that is expected to more than double from the current 404.1 GW, a government advisory body said, signaling more increases in coal use by the world’s third-largest greenhouse gas emitter.
India’s energy demand:
- India’s annual electricity demand could grow by an average of 7.2% over the five years to March 2027, almost double the rate of increase in the fiscal years from 2017 to 2022, the plan said.
- The share of coal in India’s total power generation, however, is likely to fall below 60% by 2027, with India targeting the addition of 500 GW in non-fossil based installed capacity by 2030, according to the plan.
- Although India is a major greenhouse gas producer, its per capita power demand and emissions are much lower than most developed countries.
- It also accounts for a huge share of renewables along with China.
Central Electricity Authority
- Ministry: Ministry of Power
- Type: Statutory
- Vision: To ensure reliable 24×7 power supply of adequate quality to all consumers in the country.
- Function: The functions and duties of CEA are delineated under Section 73 of the Electricity Act, 2003.
- CEA has to discharge various other functions as well:
- Section 3 (National Electricity Policy & Plan)
- Section 8 (Hydro Electric Generation)
- Section 34 (Grid Standards)
- Section 53 (Provision relating to Safety and Electric Supply)
- Section 55 (Use of Meters)
- Section 177 (Making of Regulations) of the Electricity Act, 2003.
News 3: Naga delegation meets Shah, pushes for revival of talks
Background:
- A Naga delegation led by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday to push for revival of talks between the Centre’s envoy and Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-IM).
Demands by NSCN-IM:
- Inclusion of Yehzabo (Naga constitution) into the Indian constitution
- Integration of Naga-dominated areas of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur into the existing State of Nagaland
- Creation of regional autonomous territory council for Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.
Peace talks:
- The NSCN-IM, a key player in Naga peace talks, has been demanding a separate Constitution and a flag for the Nagas and creation of ‘Greater Nagaland’ or ‘Nagalim’ by integrating Naga-dominated areas in neighbouring Assam, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh to unite 1.2 million Nagas.
News 4: E-FAST- India’s first National Electric Freight Platform Launched by NITI Aayog, WRI
Background:
- NITI Aayog and World Resources Institute (WRI), launched India’s first National Electric Freight Platform- E-FAST India (Electric Freight Accelerator for Sustainable Transport-India).
About E-FAST:
- The platform aims to raise awareness of freight electrification bolstered by an on-ground demonstration pilot and evidence based research.
- It will support scalable pilots and inform policies aimed at accelerating freight electrification in India.
NITI Aayog:
- Established: 2015
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- NITI Aayog replaced erstwhile Planning commission in 2015 and serves as the apex public policy think tank of the Government of India, and the nodal agency tasked with catalyzing economic development, and fostering cooperative federalism through the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach.
- Composition:
- Chairperson: Prime Minister
- Vice-Chairperson: To be appointed by Prime-Minister
- Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by Prime minister for a fixed tenure, in rank of Secretary to Government of India.
- Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
- Regional Council: To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors Chaired by Prime Minister or his nominee.
- Ad hoc Membership: 2 members in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on rotational basis.
- Ex-Officio membership: Maximum four from Union council of ministers to be nominated by Prime minister.
- Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by Prime minister.
- Hubs of NITI Aayog:
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- Team India Hub acts as an interface between States and Centre.
- Knowledge and Innovation Hub builds the think-tank acumen of NITI Aayog.
- Important index published by NITI Aayog: Composite Water Management Index, Sustainable Development Goal index, India Innovation Index, School Education Quality Index, Export Competitiveness Index
News 5: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- Headquarter: Vienna, Austria
- Membership: 175 member states
- Objective: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons.
- It is known as Atoms for Peace organization and is not a Principal or specialized agency of UN
- It reports to both General Assembly and Security Council of United Nations
- Missions:
- Peaceful uses: Promoting the peaceful uses of nuclear energy by its member states,
- Safeguards: Implementing safeguards to verify that nuclear energy is not used for military purposes, and
- Nuclear safety: Promoting high standards for nuclear safety
News 6: Rohingya Refugees
- Rohingyas are the minorities, who are predominantly Muslims but also includes people from different religions, are from Rakhine state of Myanmar.
- Several Rohingyas have fled to Bangladesh and India.
- Bangladesh has relocated several Rohingyas to Bhasan Char island, which lies in ecologically fragile area, as it is prone to cyclone, floods, erosion.
News 7: National Investigation Agency:
- Established: 2009 constituted under National Investigation Agency Act, 2008
- Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs
- Headquarter: New Delhi
- NIA is functioning as the Central Counter Terrorism Law Enforcement Agency in India.
- NIA aims at creating deterrence for existing and potential terrorist groups/individuals. It aims to develop as a storehouse of all terrorist related information.
- It can deal with investigation of terror crimes in states without the permission from states under written proclamation of Ministry of Home Affairs.
- Areas of investigation:NIA is mandated to investigate all the offences affecting the sovereignty, security and integrity of India, which includes:
- Friendly relations with foreign states.
- Against atomic and nuclear facilities.
- Smuggling of arms, drugs and fake Indian currency and infiltration from across the borders.
- The offences under the statutory laws enacted to implement international treaties, agreements, conventions and resolutions of the United Nations, its agencies and other international organisations.
Jurisdiction:
- It extends to the whole of India and also applies to Indian citizens outside the country.
- Persons in the service of the government wherever they are posted.
- Persons on ships and aircraft registered in India wherever they may be.
- Persons who commit a scheduled offence beyond India against the Indian citizen or affecting the interest of India.
News 8: G7 countries:
- Formed: 1973
- Members: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political forum.
- In addition, the European Union is a ‘non-enumerated member’.
- Its members are the world’s largest advanced economies and liberal democracies.
- The G7 was founded primarily to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives in response to contemporary economic problems; the first gathering was centered on the Nixon shock, the 1970s energy crisis, and the ensuing global recession.
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.