WEEK - 1 (MARCH, 2019)

Disclaimer
The current affairs articles are segregated from prelims and mains perspective, such
separation is maintained in terms of structure of articles. Mains articles have more
focus on analysis and prelims articles have more focus on facts.
However, this doesn’t mean that Mains articles don’t cover facts and PT articles can’t
have analysis. You are suggested to read all of them for all stages of examination.
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CURRENT AFFAIRS ANALYST

WEEK-1 (MARCH, 2019)

CONTENTS
Section - A: Mains Current Affairs

Area of GS Topics in News Page No.

Disaster
 India needs a new approach to fire safety 06
Management
Economics  Supreme Court’s verdict on Forests Rights Act, 2006 09
Ethics  CBI: A CAGED PARROT? 11
Indian Economy  Airline sector: Downtime and The Turnaround 13
International  India – Saudi Arabia 16
Relations  Indus waters policy shift 19

Section - B: Prelims Current Affairs

Area of GS Topics in News Page No.
 Financial Action Task Force 22
Economy  Repurpose Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative 23
 Second Edition of Startup Ranking for 2019 23
 Forest Rights Act 24
 India - Spearheading Climate Solutions 26
 Super-Efficient Air Conditioning Programme 27
 Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM
28
Scheme)
Governance  Khadi Gramodyog Vikas Yojana 30
 National Rural Economic Transformation Project 30
 Operation Digital Board 31
Indian Economy  Women Livelihood Bonds 32
Polity  Green India Mission 33
Science &  Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme 34
Technology  Public Domain Name Systems (DNS) 35

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SECTION: A
(MAINS)
CURRENT AFFAIRS

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INDIA NEEDS A NEW APPROACH TO FIRE SAFETY
CONTEXT
 Recently, released Indian Risk Survey report ranks fire outbreak as the third biggest risk to businesses and
human lives.
 20 Indian cities witnessed 80% of building fire deaths.
€ ABOUT
 A slew of fire accidents occurred in less than a
month damaging human lives, properties and
goods.
 Initial findings suggest that storing inflammable
materials, blocking exit passages, overhanging
electrical wirings are some of the causes.
€ ANALYSIS
 These incidents should be treated as a wakeup
call.
 According to National Crime Record Bureau, 18,450
cases of fire accidents were reported in 2015 which
injured 1,193 and killed 17,700.
 The India risk survey, 2017 (though the report is
old, but the eventualities makes it pretty much
relevant), ranks natural hazards the fourth highest
risk to business up from last year’s seventh
position.
 India is considered at a high risk of natural
hazards with a significant risk to businesses and
communities compared to developed economies.
 As per the India risk survey- 2017, fire has been
ranked fifth, up by three positions from the last
year’s ranking, cites the report.
 Now, fire outbreak is the third biggest risk to
business continuity and operations, according to
India Risk Survey (IRS) 2018.
€ BACKGROUND
 The fire services are not well organized in India. In
recent years, the requirements for fire safety cover
have increased manifold whereas the development
of Fire Service has not made much headway.
 The setting up of industrial plants at a fast pace
with extensive use of hazardous materials and the
construction of larger and taller buildings have
multiplied the problems of fire fighting.
 The fire hazards are no longer confined to big
cities and manufacturing centres only.
 Vast quantities of hazardous commodities are
daily moved by different modes of transport all
across the country posing complicated fire rescue
problems.
 If the objective of ensuring safety of life and
property in urban and rural areas is to be achieved,
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then a complete over-hauling of fire service
organization is called for.
 The fire services need to be organized properly
with adequate infrastructure and equipment for
keeping pace with advancement of technology
and economic growth.
Urbanization: unplanned and didn’t factor
in hazard safety:
 There has been a steep rise in the constructions of
buildings in India, especially high rise buildings.
 Some of the safety standards which are being
adhered to were made in the 1960s onwards,
which are no longer relevant
 In metro cities, high rise buildings lack adequate
in-built fire protection systems
 Poorly stored goods, even though they are not
flammable, may help to spread fire and hinder fire
fighters gain access to the seat of the fire or reduce
the effectiveness of sprinkler systems
Fire incidents take place due to:
 non-compliant construction
 lack of precautionary maintenance (non-upkeep
of extinguishers, ire doors, fire exits and their
markings and assembly areas)
 gross overlook of safety procedures such as
evacuation drills
 Lack of recording of significant consideration for
better response towards flammable materials, and
their use in cladding and partitions walls.
Other factors which act as catalyst:
 dense habitation with virtual no room for quick
evacuation
 non-compliant use of properties
 local traffic congestions, on-street parking that
constricts fire tender movement or delays their
access to the affected area
 Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the
country’s federal audit body, had warned last
year that fire disasters were possible in high-rise
buildings, petrol stations, sawmills and firecracker
shops.

 If one analyses the findings, it appears that
sufficient warnings were issued to the oversight
bodies to conduct pre-emptive investigations and
seal errant buildings, workshops etc to prevent
cases of fire accidents.
However, the action consequences were marred by

long pendency, sever understaffing, fund crunch,
corruption and inability of these bodies to bring
the culprits to the books of law.
 National Building Code of India covers the
detailed guidelines for construction, maintenance
and fire safety of the structures.
 National Building Code of India is published
by Bureau of Indian Standards and it is
recommendatory document.
 Guidelines have been issued to the States to
incorporate the recommendations of National
Building Code into their local building bylaws
making the recommendations of National
Building Code of India as mandatory
requirement.
 Fire and life safety norms: Specified for
high rise buildings and a proper horizontal
evacuation system in high-rise hospitals and
public buildings.
 Fire Safety Audit (FSA) is found to be an
effective tool to assess fire safety standards of an
organization or occupancy.
 It is aimed to assess the building for compliance
with the National Building Code of India, relevant
Indian standards and the legislations enacted
by state governments and local bodies, on
fire prevention, fire protection and life safety
measures.
 FSA should be made mandatory all over India
and the work should be entrusted to independent
agencies. It is reasonable to have a fire safety audit
every year.
 In India, although there are many rules and
regulations, codes and standards related to fire
safety, these are seldom followed.
Subject classification:
 Fire service is a state subject and has been included
as municipal function in the XII schedule of the
Constitution.
 Due to lack of resources, fire services are ill
equipped in providing adequate fire safety cover
to the population
Practice Question
 Fire service is a state subject and has been included as municipal function. However, Municipalities are
suffering from funds, functionaries and strong teethed law. Is the ϐire safety itself in need of rescue and
rehabilitation? Discuss in reference to recent events of ϐire accidents that happened in Delhi and Mumbai.
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 Based on a 2011 study, 65 per cent deficiency was
reported in fire stations. According to Ministry of
Home Affairs, in 144 towns with population over
1 lakh, there is a huge deficiency of firefighting
infrastructure.
How to prevent fire accidents?
 Organizing fire fighting workshop once in six
months in localities/mohallas/schools with
the involvement of local councillor/elected
representatives is one way to achieve awareness.
 There are many offices/high rise buildings/mandi
and religious places having firefighting equipment’s
installed but hardly any person has the knowledge
of using them.
 Lack of maintenance makes the equipment’s
dysfunctional.
 The schools where mid-day meals are cooked are
potential fire hazards. Fire service departments
should visit above mentioned installations
periodically (once in six months) and take
appropriate actions against erring establishments.
Has the lesson been learnt?
 Days after a fire tragedy killed 17 people at a hotel
in Karol Bagh, the Delhi government approved
certain amendments to the Delhi Building By-Laws
2016 to enhance fire safety.
 All existing and future guest houses must
install carbon monoxide smoke alarms, fire
doors on each floor and remove all kinds
of combustible materials from passages exit
routes and rooftops.
 No kitchen will be allowed on rooftops or
basements
 “Inflammable materials of construction will
not be used in used in passages, corridors or
staircases like wooden foam panelling, carpet
etc.
 While legislative actions give way to directions what
is crucial is to ensure their executive compliance.
The accidents may happen, what is important to
prevent their “can happen” phenomena.
 This is possible only when the agencies and
oversight bodies perform their job honestly.
 Sense of urgency within the relevant state
agencies, coupled with a general understanding of
fire safety awareness among people in India are
the two prime movers which can reduce instances
of deadly fire accidents in India.
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Need for a new approach

to fire safety in India

Indian Risk Survey report which was released

C recently has ranked fire outbreak as the third Initial findings suggest that storing
O biggest risk to businesses and human lives with 20 inflammable materials, blocking exit
N Indian cities witnessing 80% of building fire deaths passages, overhanging electrical
T wirings are some of the causes.
E
X
T
These incidents should be treated
as a wakeup call for a new
approach to fire safety in India

What compounds the problem

Consequently, there is
Rising population has led to an expansion and
demands for more space to densification of industrial
live and work units, residential as well
as commercial buildings
non-compliant and many of these fall
construction short on various safety
parameters
Setting up of industrial
plants with extensive use of
hazardous materials
lack of recording of significant
consideration for better response
towards flammable materials

gross overlook of safety traffic congestion / lack of precautionary

procedures on street parking maintenance
(e.g. evacuation (e.g. upkeep of
drills) extinguishers, fire exits)

constricts and delays relief operations and fire tender movement

Need for prevention and fighting But this has not been adequately matched either by
fire hazards has increased improvements in regulatory mechanism or upgradation
substantially of fire fighting infrastructure

National Building Code of India has Fire Safety Audit should be made
inter alia, detailed guidelines for fire mandatory all over India and
safety entrusted to independent agencies

Guidelines have been issued Way

to states to incorporate these
into their local building by laws
This needs to be stringently
implemented
Ahead
Fire services need to be organised with
adequate infrastructure to keep pace
Undertaking organising with advancements in technology and
of firefighting economic development
workshops

Bottomline
In addition to the codes and governance overlays which exist in India, we should have guidelines/framework to conduct a
comprehensive risk-assessment for our cities.
ꔅ
Risks coexist and can be complex; they are qualitative and quantitative, hence there is a dire need to study these in city-
wide and local contexts.
ꔅ
By and large, these risk-assessment studies should be an integral part of every master planning exercise, which should
be revised for changes in land use and density.

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SUPREME COURT’S VERDICT ON FORESTS RIGHTS
ACT, 2006
CONTEXT
 Forest Dwellers claims of 10 lakh families under the Forests Rights Act (FRA) were rejected by the forest
department. These families belong to Schedule Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers.
 On the above lines, Supreme Court has directed governments of Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telengana,
Tripura, Uttrakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal to ensure eviction.
€ ABOUT
 The FRA concerns the rights of forest-dwelling
communities to land and other resources, denied
to them over decades as a result of the continuance
of colonial forest laws in India.
 Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) is the nodal
ministry for the implementation of FRA.
 If a claim is rejected, the claimant has to be
informed about the reasons for the rejection. Then,
the claimant has 90 days to appeal against it.
€ ANALYSIS
€ BACKGROUND
 Nearly 250 million people live in and around forests
in India, of which the estimated indigenous Adivasi
or tribal population stands at about 100 million.
 India’s forests are governed by two main laws:
 The Indian Forest Act, 1927: Empowers the
government to declare any area to be a
reserved forest, protected forest or village
forest.
 The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Allows
any area to be constituted as a “protected
area”- a national park, wildlife sanctuary, tiger
reserve or community conservation area.
Under these laws, the rights of people living in the

area declared as a forest or protected area are to
be “settled” by a “forest settlement officer.” This
basically requires that officer to enquire into the
claims of people to land, minor forest produce,
etc., and, in the case of claims found to be valid, to
allow them to continue or to extinguish them by
paying compensation.
 Studies have shown that in many areas this process
either did not take place at all or took place in a
highly faulty manner.
 Those whose rights are not recorded during the
settlement process are susceptible to eviction
at any time. This “legal twilight zone” leads to
harassment, evictions, extortion of money and
sexual molestation of forest dwellers by forest
officials, who wield absolute authority over forest
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dwellers’ livelihoods and daily lives.
 The demand for the law has seen massive national
demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands
of people.
 Supporters of the Act claim that it will redress
the “historical injustice” committed against forest
dwellers.
 Opponents of the law claim it will lead to massive
forest destruction and should be repealed.
Constitutional Provisions:
 The presence of Article 19(5) in the Fundamental
Rights chapter of the Constitution, which specifically
enjoins the state to make laws “for the protection
of the interests of any Scheduled Tribe”, is vital.
 Supreme Court order of the eviction in complete
disregard of this core and express fundamental
right protection to Adivasis (as distinct from
legal/statutory protection), which protects them
from a range of state and non-state intrusions
in Scheduled Areas as well as from the perennial
threat of eviction from their homelands.
Inefficiencies in process of the rejecting the
claims:
 In states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, claims have
been rejected due to lack of satellite imagery.
 There is a need to have a re-look into the cases of
doubtful rejections so that any rightful claim does
not get denied.
 They are also concerns about the high rejection
rate of the claims of the Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (those who are not Schedule Tribes) in left
wing extremism-affected areas, due to the wrong
interpretation of FRA’s provisions.
 The State Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste
Development stated (November 2016) that
instructions were issued (August 2015) to review
and treat the rejected claims as suo motu appeals
at the next higher level and dispose of the same
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by giving each claimant an opportunity of being
heard. However, no such review was conducted as
of September 2016.
Possible consequences of the judgement:
 On government: This eviction will be creating
grounds for unrest and agitation and can also fuel
extremism.
 On livelihood of people: It is noted that for these
people of these communities the right to own
economic resources had been violated because of
forced eviction. Eviction and loss of grazing land
has a detrimental effect on livestock economy.
The livelihood changes serve to underline the
resilience of these communities response to
impoverishment.
Way Forward:
 The Supreme Court has, on many occasions,
risen to uphold constitutional rights by creatively
interpreting the law.
 It is the supreme obligation of the Supreme
Court to protect the Scheduled Tribes and other
vulnerable communities from the grave harms of
violent dispossession.
 States must take all measures to prevent the
occurrence of evictions. States should adopt
specific national strategies to fulfil the right
to adequate housing that are informed by the
meaningful participation of different groups in
Practice Question
 How will the recent judgement of Supreme Court, on eviction of 10 lakh people due to rejection of their
claim as forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act of 2006, effect the social fabric of our society?
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society, particularly those commonly affected by
evictions.
 While there may be exceptional circumstances in
certain cases, eviction is not always the only way
of addressing them. Indeed, exploring all feasible
alternatives to eviction is not only required by
international human rights norms, such alternatives
are also often less costly, and have better and
more sustainable results than do evictions. These
results are in large part due to the involvement
of those affected by the eviction in the planning
and development projects that affect their lives so
profoundly.
 A common feature in many evictions is the lack
of due process (the right to be treated fairly,
efficiently and effectively by the administration
of justice) and meaningful recourse mechanisms.
Some eviction notices explicitly state that the
eviction will be carried out even if a complaint has
been filed. Some courts work as a clearing house
for authorities decisions and do not consider
fundamental rights that are protected by national
and international law in their decisions. In many
cases, houses are destroyed without a court order
or without giving residents enough time to appeal
against the decision to evict.
 Last but not the least, evictions should not result
in homelessness or put people in life- or health-
threatening situations. Alternative and sustainable
accommodation should be provided before any
eviction is carried out.

CBI: A CAGED PARROT?
CONTEXT
 Recently, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials, in connection with the investigation on Saradha
Chit Fund Scam, were stopped by the West Bengal (WB) government from entering the premises of Kolkata
Police Commissioner, Rajeev Kumar. The political controversy ensued bringing back the autonomy of CBI and
conduct of the WB government in public discourse.
 CBI has also been in news due to its internal factions, corruption, and alleged use of CBI, time and again, to
settle political scores by the central government with the opposition.
€ BACKGROUND:
 CBI is the premier investigating agency of India
with a scope covering all departments of Central
Government, Union Territories, and states with
the consent of respective state governments.
It originated in the form of a Special Police
Establishment under Government of India in 1941
to investigate bribery and corruption in transactions
in the War and Supply Department of India.
 In 1946, it was transferred to Ministry of Home
Affairs (MHA) through Delhi Special Police
Establishment (DPSE) Act, 1946. DPSE got it name
as CBI in 1963 following recommendation of
Santhanam Committee and through a resolution
of MHA. Thus, CBI is not a statutory body.
 CBI main role concerns with prevention of corruption
and maintenance of integrity in the administration,
and major crimes in the country having National
and International ramifications. Major divisions of
CBI are: Anti-Corruption Division, Special Crimes
Division, Economic Offences Division, etc. among
others.
 The agency comes under the administrative
jurisdiction of Ministry of Personnel, Public
Grievances and Pensions. For corruption cases
under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988,
the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has
supervisory role over CBI following the Vineet
Narain judgement of Supreme Court, 1997.
€ ABOUT:
Present case:
 CBI is investigating Saradha Chit-Fund Scam
in which several politicians from West Bengal
have alleged to have connivance. Kolkata police
commissioner, Rajeev Kumar, led the Special
Investigation Team (SIT) investigation into the
scams until 2014 when CBI took over following
directions from the Supreme Court. The CBI was
slated to question Kumar about some missing
documents and alleged destruction of evidence.
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 However, when CBI team reached Kolkata to arrest
Kumar, it was stopped by the Kolkata Police from
doing so. Huge political controversy followed and
a contempt plea was filed by CBI in Supreme Court
against Chief Secretary of WB, Director General
of Police (DGP) and the Police Commissioner.
Supreme Court directed Kumar to present himself
for investigation and directed CBI not to arrest
him.
Saradha Chit-Fund scam:
 It is a major financial scam caused by collapse of
Ponzi scheme, a collective investment scheme, run
by Saradha group. The group collected around
Rs. 20,000-30,000 cr from over 17 lakh people
in various areas of West Bengal. The scheme
collapsed in 2013. The state government formed
SIT under Rajeev Kumar to investigate the scam.
The case was transferred to CBI by SC orders.
Issues with the case:
 Conduct of CBI: WB government has alleged that
CBI is working on the behest of central government
to derail government in WB. CBI must seem to
work more transparently and independently.
 Conduct of WB government: The CBI while filing
the contempt plea in SC said that it was stopped
from performing its lawful duty by the state
police and state administration. An independent
and transparent investigation is needed to book
the perpetrators and state government should
cooperate with the agency instead of blocking it
from functioning.
Remarks: Chit-Fund Scam involved with money
collected from poor people mainly. The involvement
of local politicians in the scam and allegations of
destruction of evidences by the SIT made Supreme
Court to transfer the case to CBI. Supreme Court
has asked Kumar to cooperate with the CBI in
investigation and has asked CBI to provide evidences
of destruction of evidences by Kumar in the present
case. Thus, a thorough enquiry in the case is the need
of the hour and cooperation with the investigating
agency by all those alleged to have a connection with
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the case would help bring justice to the poor people
of West Bengal.
€ ANALYSIS
Other issues with CBI:
 Autonomy: Lack of enough financial and
administrative autonomy in non-corruption cases
has been often cited as major roadblocks in
independent investigation by CBI.
 Dependence on MHA: For staffing, especially
on deputations of IPS officers, which affects its
functional autonomy.
 Constitutional status: CBI enjoys great power
over the investigative machinery of the country,
yet it derives its origin from DPSE Act, 1946
and the MHA resolution of 1963 which puts its
constitutional status on shaky ground. Guwahati
High Court in 2013 termed CBI unconstitutional
which was later stayed by the Supreme Court.
 Political interference: CBI often handles sensitive
cases and those of national importance. However,
due to it being under the control of central
government with latter having immense control
over its functioning, often allegations of political
misuse of CBI have been there. Misconduct or
tardiness in investigation has been alleged on
CBI’s part in cases like Bofor’s scam, Hawala scam,
2G scam case, coalgate scam case, etc. Due to this
issue, SC, while hearing case on coalgate scam in
2013, called CBI a caged parrot.
 Internal faction within CBI and corruption:
Recently, the allegation of corruption against
each other by the special director of CBI, Rakesh
Asthana, and CBI director, Alok Verma, leading to
subsequent ouster of latter by CVC, brought to the
fore the internal division within the ranks of CBI.
Supreme Court has ordered CVC enquiry in the
corruption case.
 The appointment of interim chief, Nageshwar Rao,
by the centre bypassing the selection process
under the Lok Pal Act, 2013.
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 Police is a State subject under the Indian
Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure
(CrPC) which the CBI has to follow makes it a
police agency. Thus, CBI requires consent of the
State government in question before it can make
its presence in that State. Section 6A of DPSE
Act, which was termed unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court in 2014, also was a roadblock in
CBI functioning.
How to make CBI more effective?
 Statutory backing: A formal, legal framework for
CBI for effective and independent functioning.
 Checking political interference in appointment:
The Lokpal Act, 2013 provides for a 3-member
selection committee comprising of the Prime
Minister, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) and the
Chief Justice of India for appointment of director
of CBI.The procedure must be followed in letter
and spirit.
 Accountability to Parliament: Like Comptroller
and Auditor General of India (CAG), parliamentary
oversight would ensure better accountability,
reduce chances of political misuse, and increase its
credibilty.
 Dedicated cadre: Dedicated officers of its own
without depending upon deputations. CVC
provides for tenurial stability of 2 years which must
be respected for transparent and independent
investigations as well.
Conclusion:
 The CBI has high conviction rate (~65-70%) when
compared with state police. The needed reforms
would make CBI more autonomous and effective
in handling cases. CBI must also take corrective
steps to contain internal rivalries and factions and
follow set procedures to work more transparently
and effectively to carry out their mandate and live
up to the expectations of the people.

AIRLINE SECTOR: DOWNTIME AND THE
TURNAROUND
CONTEXT
 According to a report by the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (CAPA), India’s airlines were expected to post
losses of around Rs 15,000 crore in 2018.
 Jet Airways and Spice Jet declared losses and IndiGo’s profits collapsed 97 per cent to just 28 crore.
€ BACKGROUND:
 India’s second-biggest airline (Jet airways) by
market share posted a standalone net loss of Rs
1,319 crore for April-June compared with a net
profit of Rs 55.73 crore a year earlier. Revenue
grew 6% to Rs 6,010.46 crore, but the airline failed
to control its salary expenses that grew 13% to Rs
816 crore or its finance costs that increased 27%
to Rs 249 crore
€ ANALYSIS:
 One crucial reason for the losses is the rising
price of Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).
 Jathropa-derived biofuel (aka Green Fuel)
won’t be able to make a huge dent in fuel
costs for another decade or two due to
techno-commercial reasons.
 With crude prices shooting up coupled with
the fact that the US Dollar has strengthened
against the rupee, airlines are having to pay a
lot more for aircraft leases and servicing, since
the entire industry runs on the greenback
(prompt payments).
 Usually when costs go up, prices usually
follow, but the airlines are finding themselves
forced to offer more and more seats on
discount sales.
 Airlines are offering so many flights just to
lock up valuable slots in airports like Delhi
and Mumbai, where despite expensive
renovation and construction over the past
decade, almost no slots are available.
 Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport,
whose redesign was supposed to be sufficient till
2030, has already hit peak capacity of 60 million
passengers and even with three runways has
massive congestion problems, with aircraft holding
in the air for upwards of an hour.
 A Delhi-Mumbai flight which used to take just
one hour and forty-five minutes from gate to gate
a decade ago, can now take two hours fifteen
minutes when counting the amount of time planes
have to wait on the ground and in the air.
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 Airlines measure their performance on two key
metrics, Costs per Average Seat Kilometer (CASK)
and Revenue per Average Seat Kilometer (RASK):
 While costs have gone up thanks to fuel prices, the
falling rupee and rising wages, revenues have not
kept pace at all.
 Leading airlines have actually seen yields from
passengers drop according to their results. This
clearly means that Indians want to fly, but they
don’t want to pay more to fly
 Price elasticity: with more Indians flying and with
more flying options, they can look at multiple
destinations at the same time on multiple airlines
and if the fares do not suit them they can easily
cancel their travel plans.
 Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has
made it difficult for the airlines to make ancillary
revenues with passengers calling for caps on
cancellation charges and calls for caps on excess
baggage and other charges.
 Consider an example on the matter: Airlines will
soon be permitted to offer onboard Wi-Fi, but
with costs of installing such systems up to a million
dollars per aircraft, can they afford to do so, given
that some airlines are believed to have less than a
month of cash in hand.
 A combination of too many flights, too many
airlines and the subsidized Air India adding to the
overall woes of the private airlines, things are not
looking good for the airlines.
 In fact, Air India has already reached to a stage of
comatose.
 But, even the “bailers” are hard hit: Tata Group
find themselves supporting two airlines right now,
Air Asia which has a muddled direction and Vistara
which is apparently far from profitable. Jet Airways
increasingly looks like it might have a change of
management and of strategic direction, especially
given that its savior in its last time of crisis, the
Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airlines is itself bleeding
and some of the other airline groups could pitch in
for Jet, especially Air France - KLM Group are also
deep in trouble.
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What about Low Cost Carriers (LCC)?
 The low-cost carriers have to figure out ways to
increase ancillary revenues.
 LCC has moved away from Hub and Spoke model.
In Hub and Spoke model, a major airport becomes
the hub, and other destinations become the
spoke.
 The hub-and-spoke system allows airlines to
consolidate their passengers at the hub and then
fly on to their ultimate destination (the spokes) in
a smaller aircraft, which increases load factors and
helps drive down fares.
 It also has some drawbacks, such as the high costs
required maintaining the complex infrastructure
for such a massive, interconnected system; longer
travel times due to the necessity for travelers of
transiting through the hub; and susceptibility to
cascading flight delays due to hub congestion.
 The point-to-point system, on the other hand,
connects each origin and destination via non-stop
flights. This provides substantial cost savings by
eliminating the intermediate stop at the hub, which
means the huge upfront cost in hub development
can be avoided. It also reduces total travel time—a
priority or travelers — while enabling better aircraft
utilization due to faster aircraft turn times.
Why LCC perform better?
 The higher efficiency and better fleet utilization
of LCCs, coupled with lower overheads, means
that they can offer prices that are significantly
discounted.
 Agent less ticketing: The emergence of the Internet
as the primary medium for booking tickets has
greatly increased transparency of ticket pricing,
which works to the LCCs’ advantage because of
their lower ticket prices.
 A significant benefit of the point-to-point model is
that LCCs can use a single fleet type, since they may
not have much variability in passenger demand
between the major city-pairs that they serve.
Practice Question
 After Kingϐisher, Jet airways and Air India are facing meltdown. While certain Low Cost Carriers are
performing above the benchmark, the airline sector as a whole is facing downtime. Evaluate the risk
faced and importance of the sector and suggest a way forward.
14 www.iasscore.in
But can the “ailing” airline sector adapt to
LCC model?
 This depends upon consumer preference as LCC
are mostly “no-frills” service providers.
 How the “JET” situation does look like:
 The Bank-led Resolution Plan (BLRP) for
troubled carrier Jet Airways has projected that
the airline will start turning in net profits from
the October-December quarter of 2019-20.
 As per the BLRP, lenders will convert a part of
their Rs 8,200 crore debt into equity such that
they will collectively have 51% stake initially
in the company.
 After conversion of debt into equity,
the holding of promoters and existing
shareholders would be reduced by half
(Naresh Goyal’s stake would fall from 51%
to 25.5%, Etihad’s from 24% to 12% and the
general public holding from 25% to 12.5%).
 Jet would reduce the distribution cost as it had
a huge network of travel agents as compared
with competitors. The airline would also look
at rationalizing some sectors and stop flying
in non-profitable routes.
 What is the solution?
 Government cuts taxes on fuel, but a crippling
fiscal deficit and the need to promote social
spending ahead of an election year will
jeopardize this move.
 Second factor could be of consolidation.
 Economic prudence by the airline sector is
third factor.
 Vibrant and deliberative “regulation” to
overcome predatory pricing and technical
safety issues.
 Mandatory audit and action plan – to be
reviewed and followed strictly under the
oversight of lenders.
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What ails the Aviation Sector

Context

IndiGo, SpiceJet and These airlines together account

Jet Airways slipped for about 70% of the domestic
from profitability to market share and their losses
steep losses in the first do not bode well for the aviation
nine months of 2018. sector as a whole.

discounted prices lead to lesser offer discounts to

revenue in face of increasing costs fill up the seats

Stiff massive fleet expansion

insufficient
competition in recent times
parking bays

Challenges faced by
management the airline sector Infrastructural
congestion
issues constraints at airports

most lack operational slot

efficiency Fuel accounts for about 30-40 % constraints
(e.g., optimum utilisation of fleet, of total expenditure of airlines
route network , etc)

Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF)

Continual Rising absolute
cost increased by over 40%
fall of rupee prices of ATF
since 2017 due to…
to
led
also

compounded by high taxes on ATF

has
thiss

more costs to airlines for This has made domestic ATF costlier by over 50% compared to USA, EU , etc
engine lease rentals and
spare parts from foreign
So, difficult for Indian airlines to compete internationally
countries

What steps can be taken

Vibrant and deliberative Consolidation and
“regulation” to overcome predatory enhancing of
pricing and technical safety issues. operational efficiency
by government by airline sector

Mandatory audit and action

Govt could consider plan measures for
cutting taxes of fuel economic prudence
(However, in face of a crippling
fiscal deficit and rising social
spending in an election year, this to be reviewed and followed strictly
may be difficult to achieve) under the oversight of lenders

www.iasscore.in 15
WEEK - 1 (MARCH, 2019)
INDIA – SAUDI ARABIA
CONTEXT
 Mohammed bin Salman’s recent visit to India was seen as a watershed moment in boosting defense and security
cooperation.
 Apart from these two broad themes, it appeared that India and Saudi Arabia are trying to move beyond energy
relationships.
€ ABOUT
 Saudi Arabia has long been an important Indian
trade partner.
 The Kingdom remains a vital source of energy for
India, which imports almost a fifth of its crude oil
requirement from Saudi Arabia.
€ BACKGROUND
 For years, the Saudi Arabia-India relationship had
always been shadowed by the Kingdom’s close ties
with Pakistan.
 That has changed, while Riyadh retains strong ties to
Islamabad, there is no longer an “either-or” element,
and the Kingdom has demonstrated geopolitical
diversification in its relations with South Asia.
 The rise of jihadist extremism, the gradual decline
of American power, and the rise of China have
brought about transformational changes in India’s
engagements with the Gulf region.
 India’s Prime Minister has demonstrated an
increased willingness to cooperate with Saudi Arabia
on a variety of security issues such as joint military
exercises, intelligence sharing, counterterrorism,
anti-money laundering, and terror financing.
 On the face of it, much of the deliberations have
been shrouded over “terror talks”: The historic visit
of King Abdullah to India in 2006 had laid solid
ground for the India-Saudi relationship.
 The “Delhi Declaration,” signed between the two
countries during his visit, stressed that terrorism
was a scourge that “the governments would closely
and actively cooperate” to fight against.
 The “Riyadh Declaration” signed in 2010 during
then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit
to Saudi Arabia emphasized cooperation on
information exchange on terrorism.
 Enhanced security cooperation has added a new
dimension in the bilateral ties between New Delhi
and Riyadh.
€ ANALYSIS:
 Counterterrorism has emerged as a key area of
cooperation between the two countries.
 One cannot forget the fact that the Gulf region
was used as a safe haven by India’s many home-
grown extremist and terrorists groups, such as the
16 www.iasscore.in
Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the
Indian Mujahideen (IM).
 Due to the large migrant population in the Gulf,
frequent visits of South Asian Muslims for economic
purposes did not arouse much suspicion among
the security agencies
 But jihadist and terrorist outfits leveraged such
opportunities to mobilize funds for terror activities.
Saudi Arabian intelligence agencies did not take
long to notice this disturbing trend and began
acting against these individuals and groups.
 Another dynamic has been the emergence of
the Islamic State, which has spread turmoil and
uncertainty in the region. Being a dominant power
in the region, Saudi Arabia has been trying to
tackle these security challenges.
What is the precise nature of the India-
Saudi Arabia relationship?
 The kingdom is India’s fourth largest trading
partner, and India is the fourth largest market for
Saudi exports.
 Bilateral trade is in the region of $28 billion, most of
it crude oil exports to India, which imports around
19% of its oil requirements from Saudi Arabia.
 The Saudi Arabian oil major Aramco and a partner
UAE company had decided to invest half in a planned
$ 44 bn in a refinery-cum-petrochemical project in
Maharashtra billed as the world’s biggest.
 But that project is on hold for now as the Shiv Sena
has objected to its proposed location in Ratnagiri.
 India has the world’s third largest Muslim
population (after Indonesia and Pakistan), and
there is inevitably a religious-cultural aspect to the
ties with the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites.
 Plus, there are more than 2.7 million Indians
working in Saudi.
Is the equation that simple as it seems?
 Despite the Saudi connections to al-Qaeda and
other terror groups, its relations with the US have
remained solid.
 Shia Iran views the US-Saudi-Israel alliance as an
existential threat.

 India has stronger ties with both Israel and Iran
and looks towards USA and Saudi to meet its
energy and security related aspects.
 Iran, like India, does not like the emerging US-
Taliban “peace agreement” that could leave the
Taliban in the driving seat in Afghanistan by the
middle of 2019.
 The Saudis, who back the talks, fear Iran may
undermine it.
 The only country that has more influence over
Pakistan than China is Saudi Arabia, but its own
irons in regional fires would prevent it from helping
India on this front.
Strengthening of relationships:
 A milestone happened in 2017, when direct
flights between India and Israel became possible
following Saudi Arabia giving consent to allow Air
India use of its airspace.
 Since Riyadh and Tel Aviv have no official diplomatic
ties, the over flight permission clearly signals Saudi
willingness to treat India as a special friend.
 Mohammed bin Salman has been promoting a
forward-looking and non-obscurantist version of
Islam.
 He has expressed his views publicly against
terrorism and religious fanaticism, asserting that
the Saudi-funded spread of Wahhabism was not
the Kingdom’s brainchild.
 It began only due to requests from Western
countries to help them counter the Soviet Union’s
ideological encroachment amongst Muslims
countries during the Cold War.
 Energy trade has traditionally been the foundation
of the India-Saudi relationship.
 The increased focus on security and counterterrorism
cooperation points to a maturing relationship that
has moved away from a mere energy partnership.
Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority
(SAGIA) and Invest India:
 To utilize the investment opportunities in both
countries, especially in the fields of infrastructure,
mining, energy including renewables, food
security and technology transfer, and to further
consolidate cooperation in the areas of skilled
human resources in information technology,
electronics and telecommunications.
 Investments by Indian companies in the Kingdom
for domestic and regional market access.
 Coalition on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure
 India-Saudi Arabia Energy consultations: The
two sides agreed to transform the buyer-seller
Practice Question
 Saudi-India ties have mostly revolved around energy diplomacy. How far do you agree that India-
Saudi can move past this uni-dimensional relation and create a multi-dimensional convergence zone?
Discuss while listing out potential contentious zone faced in this path.
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relationship in the energy-sector to strategic
partnership focusing on investment and joint
ventures in petrochemical complexes.
 Kingdom’s participation in the India’s Strategic
Petroleum Reserves (SPRs).
 Saudi side would join the International Solar
Alliance led by India and France.
 Joint Working Group on Skill Development:
two countries can benefit from each other’s
core competencies in important fields such
as manufacturing, information technology,
communications, and programming.
 To work together with other Indian Ocean Rim
Countries for enhancing maritime security, vital for
the security and prosperity of both countries and
safe passage for international trade.
 The two sides are focusing on the need for concerted
action by the international community against
terrorism including through early adoption of the
UN Comprehensive Convention on International
Terrorism and underlined the importance of
comprehensive sanctioning of terrorists and their
organizations by the UN.
 Sorting out the issue of “Iqamah” for the Indian
Labour who were stranded in Saudi Arabia for no fault
of their own, and resolving this humanitarian issue.
Way forward:
 As China makes a massive investment in the
future of Pakistan with its $60 billion infrastructure
investment drive, the geopolitical chessboard in
Asia is shifting.
 A new move is being made on that chessboard:
The accelerating strategic ties between India and
Saudi Arabia.
 It’s a move driven firstly by commercial
considerations, but one that could contribute
significantly to regional stability and prosperity.
 There have been reports that the Saudi Arabia is
planning to get its own nuclear deterrent.
 If that is the case, then Pakistan is the most logical
source for technical expertise.
 On the Afghanistan negotiations, Qatar has taken
the lead for now. But it is unlikely that the Saudis
will make an intervention against the Taliban.
 The India-Saudi Arabia relationship is important
for a variety of reasons but New Delhi should
be careful not to make convergence on Pakistan
and Afghanistan a litmus test for making further
progress.
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WEEK - 1 (MARCH, 2019)

India - Saudi Arabia : Crown Prince’s visit to India

Context
Saudi Arabia has long been
an important Indian trade Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
partner. bin Salman’s recent visit to India
The Kingdom remains a vital was seen as a watershed moment
source of energy for India, in boosting defence and security
which imports almost a fifth of cooperation. It appeared that India
its crude oil requirement from and Saudi Arabia are trying to
Saudi Arabia. move beyond energy relationships.

provides 17% crude and 32% LPG supply of India

Facilitates Haj Importance of Saudi

pilgrimage to 1.75 lakh Arabia for India 2nd largest crude
Indians very year supplier

Has identified India

as one of the 8 India’s 4th largest trading
2.7 million strong Indian strategic partners for partner
Community political, security and
trade engangements
( $ 28 bn )
(responsible for $ 11 bn remittances
of total $ 70 billion India receives)

Launched Strategic Partnership Council that is

led by the Prime Minister and the Crown Prince
Both the sides agreed to
Saudi Arabia joined expedite the work for $ 44
the International billion West Coast Refinery
Solar Alliance Important takeaways from and Petrochemical Complex
the visit of crown prince

Resolution to create
comprehensive security on enhancing security There would a Joint Working
dialogue consisting of and fighting terrorism Group on counter terrorism.
National Security Advisors

Joint Statement urged for the early Saudi Arabia said, it would share
adoption of UN Comprehensive intelligence with India and other countries,
Convention on International Terrorism that were willing to fight terrorism.

The ‘x-factor’ in relationship

In view of the strategic and economic nexus between Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan, it will be unwise for New Delhi to seriously believe that it will be
able to wean Saudi Arabia away from Pakistan.

Instead, India should try to bond economic relationship, and

then use it to leverage strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia.

This could contribute to regional stability as well as mutual prosperity.

18 www.iasscore.in

INDUS WATERS POLICY SHIFT
CONTEXT
 From revoking Most Favored nation tag given to Pakistan to working every possible way to utilize its full claim
under the Indus Waters Treaty, India is sailing through strained ties with Pakistan.
€ ABOUT
 After the Uri terrorist attack (2016), the Government
of India signaled that it is mulling over reviving
several stalled projects on Indus branch of rivers
(Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej).
 In 2016, the matter had escalated to such an extent
that India had temporarily suspended regular
meetings of the Indus Commissioners of the two
countries.
€ BACKGROUND
Indus Waters Treaty
 The treaty was signed on September 19, 1960,
between India and Pakistan. It was brokered by
the World Bank. This treaty fixed and delimited the
rights and obligations of both countries concerning
the use of the waters of the Indus River system.
 The Indus River rises in the southwestern Tibet
Autonomous Region of China and flows through
the Kashmir region and then into Pakistan to drain
into the Arabian Sea.
 It is joined by numerous tributaries, notably of
those are—the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and
Sutlej rivers.
 The Indus River system has been used for irrigation
since time immemorial.
 During the period of British rule in India, large
canal systems were constructed, and old canal
systems and inundation channels were revived and
modernized.
 In 1947 British India was partitioned, resulting in
the creation of an independent India and West
Pakistan (later called Pakistan). The water system
was thus bifurcated.
 After the expiration of the short-term Standstill
Agreement of 1947, on April 1, 1948, India began
withholding water from canals that flowed into
Pakistan.
 In 1951 David Lilienthal, former head of both the
Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Atomic
Energy Commission, visited the region.
 He suggested that India and Pakistan should
work toward an agreement to jointly develop and
administer the Indus River system, possibly with
advice and financing from the World Bank.
1 (1 - 6 NOVEMBER,
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 After in principle approval by the World Bank,
engineers from each country formed a working
group, with engineers from the World Bank
offering advice.
 After six years of intense deliberations, Indian Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President
Mohammad Ayub Khan signed the Indus Waters
Treaty in September 1960.
 The treaty required the creation of a Permanent
Indus Commission, with a commissioner from
each country, in order to maintain a channel for
communication and to try to resolve questions
about implementation of the treaty. In addition, a
mechanism for resolving disputes was provided.
€ ANALYSIS
What has happened now?
 India has decided to exert much greater control
over the waters of the Indus basin, while continuing
to adhere to the provisions of the 1960 Indus
Waters Treaty.
 Under the stewardship of the Principal Secretary to
the Prime Minister, a high level task force has been
set up to ensure that India makes full use of the
waters it is entitled to under the Treaty.
 The Indus Waters Treaty gives India full control over
the waters (11 cubic km is the annual flow before
entering Pakistan) of the three Eastern rivers, Beas,
Ravi and Sutlej. Pakistan can use whatever flows
into its territory.
 Waters of the three Western rivers of Indus, Jhelum
and Chenab (232.5 cubic km is the annual flow
before entering Pakistan) flow “unrestricted” to
Pakistan. India can use about 62.2 cubic km and
170.3 cubic km is reserved for Pakistan.
 It is to note that India is allowed to make some use
of the waters of the Western rivers as well. It can do
for purposes of navigation, power production and
irrigation, but this can happen only in accordance
with the provisions of the Treaty.
 The two countries have permanent Indus Water
Commissions that meet regularly to share
information and data and also to resolve disputes.
So far, most of these disputes were resolved
through this bilateral mechanism.
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WEEK - 1 (MARCH, 2019)
 The dispute over the Baglihar dam was the first
one that Pakistan referred to the World Bank,
which had brokered the Indus Waters Treaty.
Change in socio-economic - strategic-
conditions
 Historically, India has never made full use of its
rights available under the treat.
 On the Western rivers, there was no pressing
demand for creation of new infrastructure on
the Indus rivers, either for hydroelectricity or
irrigation.
 As a matter of fact, farmers in Jammu and Kashmir
moved to horticulture from traditional crops, which
further reduced the demand for irrigation.
 After the devastating floods of 2014, it was argued
that storage infrastructure could have been built
on these rivers as a flood-control measure.
Why has India not utilized its fair share?
 Diplomatic sources who have worked closely on
India-Pakistan ties, and experts who deal with water-
sharing disputes, indicate that a possible reason for
not having done so all these years was to avoid an
explosion of new water wars within the country.
 Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Haryana have
already locked horns over access to and use of
water from these three rivers, internally.
 It took nearly 40 years and the intervention of
the Centre for the governments of Jammu and
Kashmir and Punjab to finally sign an agreement
on the implementation of the Shahpur Kandi dam
project in September 2018.
Pakistan’s position:
 More than 95% of Pakistan’s irrigation infrastructure
is in the Indus basin which comprises about 15
million hectares of land.
 Three of Pakistan’s biggest dams, including Mangla,
which is one of the largest in the world, is built on
the Jhelum river. These dams produce a substantial
proportion of Pakistan’s electricity.
 India’s decision to change the status quo would
hurt the interests of Pakistan. Why - because it had
become used to the excess water and had built its
infrastructure around it.
Practice Question
 Indus Waters Treaty between two openly hostile nations is held up as a gold standard globally — an
example for other warring nation-states to follow in the interest of civilian populations which suffer
the consequences of war. Given high tensions that prevail frequently, what do you think should be
India’s action? Critically evaluate within the framework of “legal” and “global” implications.
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 Pakistan has raised objections on many Indian
projects, including the Ratle project, the Pakal Dul
dam, and Sawalkot - India considers them as mere
delay tactics forcing cost escalation and making
them economically unviable.
What actions have been taken so far by
India?
 Several projects that were either suspended or
had remained on paper for several years were put
on fast-track mode and some were even declared
national projects.
 Bursar hydroelectric project (800MW) on the
Marusudar River, one of the tributaries of the
Chenab, in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir:
India’s first project on the Western rivers to have
storage infrastructure.
 Shahpur-Kandi project in Gurdaspur district of
Punjab: work was stalled for several years because
of a dispute between the governments of Punjab
and Jammu and Kashmir. In March 2017, the
Centre summoned the representatives of the two
states, brokered a solution, and directed that work
be resumed.
 Sawalkot project on the Chenab: 1,856-MW project
in Jammu and Kashmir has received go-ahead.
 Ujh project (Jammu and Kashmir): Union government
has started work on this project as well.
Way forward:
 Despite hostile India-Pakistan political climate, the
treat has survived all odds since its inception.
 However, the current climate paints a different
picture with India determined to not let go of its
rightful share.
 While the media and nationalist throat may condemn
the treaty altogether, Indian diplomacy has to rise
above and factor in “India’s growing stature” and
build its image of being a “rightful power”.
 In other words, while Pakistan’s duplicity on
fighting terror is proof that it doesn’t honor its
own global obligations, calls to abrogate the Indus
Waters Treaty are knee-jerk emotional responses
that don’t factor in long-term and wide- ranging
consequences for India in the world
 The treat is here to stay, albeit in a justifiable
manner.
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SECTION: B
(PRELIMS)
CURRENT AFFAIRS

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FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE

€ CONTEXT • During the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Week in Paris, India had lobbied
hard to get the global financial body to blacklist Pakistan for non-compliance in
curbing terror financing.

€ ABOUT More on news

 Indian security agencies have prepared a dossier to show the culpability of Pakistan in
the Pulwama terror strike, which was the worst such attack in J&K in decades.
 Pakistan was placed on the ‘grey list’ in June last year and was lobbying hard to be
removed from this list at the meeting.
 Pakistan has to complete its action plan until May 2019. If the country does not meet
the targets by October, it could be blacklisted.

FATF
 It was established in July 1989 by a Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in Paris, initially to
examine and develop measures to combat money laundering.
 In October 2001, the FATF expanded its mandate to incorporate efforts to combat
terrorist financing, in addition to money laundering.
 Since its inception, the FATF has operated under a fixed life-span, requiring a specific
decision by its Ministers to continue.
 The current mandate of the FATF (2012-2020) was adopted at a Ministerial meeting in
April 2012.
 Its secretariat is housed administratively at the OECD.
 FATF was not formed as a formal international organisation. Rather, the FATF is a task
force composed of member governments who agree to fund the FATF on temporary
basis with specific goals and projects.

Objectives of the FATF:

 To set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and
operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other
related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
 To monitor countries’ progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations; reviews
money laundering and terrorist financing techniques and counter-measures;
 To promote the adoption and implementation of the FATF Recommendations globally.

How many countries are there in the FATF?

 The FATF, which reportedly comprises 36 countries and two regional organisations
(European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council), works to identify national-
level vulnerabilities with the aim of protecting the international financial system from
misuse.

What are the Black List and Grey List?

 Those are two types of list that FATF maintains.
 Black list is given to the countries that FATF considers as uncooperative tax havens.
These countries are known as Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCTs).
 Grey list is a warning given to the country that it might come in Black list. But even when
a country comes under Grey list it faces many problems like :
 Problem in getting loans
 Economic sanctions
 Reduction in trade

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REPURPOSE COOKING OIL (RUCO) INITIATIVE

€ CONTEXT • The Indian Institute of Petroleum has successfully finished a pilot test to convert
used cooking oil into bio-aviation turbine fuel (Bio-ATF), which can be blended with
conventional ATF and used as aircraft fuel.
 The test assumes importance as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
(FSSAI) has launched the Repurpose Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative to collect and
convert used cooking oil into bio-fuel.

€ ABOUT More on news

 The Institute collected used cooking oil from caterers and hotels in Dehradun for the
pilot, which has now set the platform for commercial use of the technology.
 The chemical composition of the used cooking oil is identical to other plant-based oils
that have been converted to Bio-ATF.

Repurpose Used Cooking Oil

 The FSSAI launched RUCO – Repurpose Used Cooking Oil on Biofuel Day 2018. RUCO
is an ecosystem that will enable the collection and conversion of used cooking oil to
biodiesel.
 India is one of the largest consumers of vegetable oil and so has the potential to recover
almost 220 crore litre of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) for the production of biodiesel by the
year 2022.
 FSSAI has launched a micro-site to monitor the progress of the collection and conversion
of UCO to biodiesel. Sixty-Four companies have been identified thus far at 101 locations
across the country to enable collection of UCO.
 McDonald’s is already converting its used cooking oil to biodiesel from 100 outlets in
Mumbai and Pune as of today.
 Bangalore based ECO Green Fuels is also currently converting approximately 1200
tonnes of UCO to biodiesel annually.
 The regulator is implementing an Education, Enforcement and Ecosystem (EEE) strategy
to divert UCO from the food value chain and curb current illegal practices.

SECOND EDITION OF STARTUP RANKING FOR 2019

€ CONTEXT • Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) released second
edition of Startup Ranking for 2019.

€ ABOUT Aim
 The Startup Ranking framework aims to rank the States/UTs for establishing a robust
ecosystem for supporting Startups.
 The framework also encourages States and UTs to identify, learn and replicate good
practices from each other.
 The ranking exercise aims to evaluate measures taken by States/UTs during the
assessment period from May 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019.

Procedure
 The Ranking Framework 2019 comprises of 7 pillars and 30 action points.

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WEEK - 1 (MARCH, 2019)

 The pillars will assess States’/UTs efforts across institutional support, simplifying
regulations, easing public procurement, incubation support, seed funding support,
venture funding support and awareness and outreach related activities.
 DPIIT also proposes to recognise States and UTs for their exemplary performance in
seven pillars of the ranking framework.
 As part of the Ranking 2019 exercise, DPIIT will recognize innovative Startup programs
and initiatives from State/UT Governments.

Difference with first edition:

 DPIIT has prepared the framework after several rounds of consultation with State and
UT Governments.
 The framework has evolved distinctly as compared to last year with major emphasis on
collecting feedback from Startups and other important stakeholders from the Startup
ecosystem.

€ SIGNIFICANCE • The launch of the ranking framework in 2018 galvanized the States/UTs into action,
thereby giving impetus to the Startup movement across the country.
 Till date, 25 States and UTs have launched their dedicated Startup policies to incentivize
Startups in their jurisdiction.
 The Startup Ranking 2019 is expected to take forward the Startup ecosystem in the
country and give impetus to the vision of India becoming a Startup Nation.

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade

 It was established in 1995 and has been reconstituted in 2000 with the merger of the
Department of Industrial Development.
 Recently, it was renamed from Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion to
Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

Role and functions:

 Formulation and implementation of industrial policy and strategies for industrial
development in conformity with the development needs and national objectives.
 Monitoring the industrial growth, in general, and performance of industries
specifically assigned to it, in particular, including advice on all industrial and technical
matters.
 Formulation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy and promotion, approval and
facilitation of FDI.
 Encouragement to foreign technology collaborations at enterprise level and
formulating policy parameters for the same.
 Formulation of policies relating to Intellectual Property Rights in the fields of
Patents, Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications of Goods and
administration of regulations, rules made there under.
 Administration of Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951.
 Promoting industrial development of industrially backward areas and the North
Eastern Region including International Co-operation for industrial partnerships and
Promotion of productivity, quality and technical cooperation.

FOREST RIGHTS ACT

€ CONTEXT • In a significant development for tribals living in forests, the Supreme Court has
asked 17 state governments to evict close to one million in forest areas, after their
claim has been rejected.

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 The land ownership claims made by scheduled tribes and other traditional forest
dwellers under the Forest Rights Act have been rejected on various grounds, including
absence of proof that the land was in their possession for at least three generations.

€ ABOUT More on news

 The court has asked the evictions to be carried out by July 12, 2019.
 Supreme Court has also asked Dehradun-based Forest Survey of India to submit a
satellite-image based report on the encroachments removed.

What does the Forest Rights Act do?

 Grants legal recognition to the rights of traditional forest dwelling communities, partially
correcting the injustice caused by the forest laws.
 Makes a beginning towards giving communities and the public a voice in forest and
wildlife conservation.

Highlights of the Act:

 The Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act seeks to recognise forest rights
of forest dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs) who have been occupying the land before
October 25, 1980 (or three generation till 2005).
 An FDST nuclear family would be entitled to the land currently occupied subject to a
maximum of 2.5 hectares. The land may be allocated in all forests including core areas
of National Parks and Sanctuaries.
 In core areas, an FDST would be given provisional land rights for five years, within which
period he would be relocated and compensated. If the relocation does not take place
within five years, he gets permanent right over the land.
 The Bill outlines 12 forest rights which include the right to live in the forest, to self
cultivate, and to use minor forest produce. Activities such as hunting and trapping are
prohibited.

How are the rights recognised under the Act?

 The Gram Sabha is empowered to initiate the process of determining the extent of
forest rights that may be given to each eligible individual or family. It would then pass
a resolution to that effect and forward a copy to the Sub-Divisional Level Committee
(SDLC).
 The SDLC, which shall be constituted by the State Government, would examine the
resolution passed by the Gram Sabha and prepare the record of forest rights.
 It would then be forwarded to the District Level Committee (DLC) through the Sub-
Divisional Officer for a final decision.
 The DLC would be the final authority to approve the record of forest rights prepared by
the SDLC.
 If a person is not satisfied by the ruling of the Gram Sabha, he can file a petition to the
SDLC who would consider and dispose of such petition.
 If a person is not satisfied by the decision of the SDLC, he can petition to the DLC
within 60 days of date of decision of the SDLC. The DLC’s decision would be final and
binding.

Rights under the Forest Rights Act

The Act delineates 12 rights of FDSTs over a variety of subjects including:
! living in the forest for habitation or for self cultivation for livelihood,
! community rights such as nistar,
! right to own, use or dispose of minor forest produce,
! conversion of forest village to revenue village,

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! conversion of pattas or leases issued by any local authority or any state

government on forest land to titles, and other traditional customary rights.
 Customary rights exclude hunting, trapping or extracting body parts of any wild
animal.
 FDSTs also cannot indulge in any activity that adversely affects wild animals, forests
and the biodiversity in the local area and need to ensure that adjoining catchments
areas and water sources are adequately protected.

INDIA - SPEARHEADING CLIMATE SOLUTIONS

€ CONTEXT • Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change released a publication titled
‘India - Spearheading Climate Solutions’ highlighting actions taken by the country
to combat climate change.
 According to the coffee table book released, India has accomplished its ambitious
targets to combat climate change.

€ ABOUT What are the main initiatives taken by the government as per the
publication?

International Solar Alliance (ISA)

 It is conceived as a coalition of solar resource rich countries to address their special
energy needs and will provide a platform to collaborate on addressing the identified
gaps through a common, agreed approach.
 ISA was jointly launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the then President
of France, Francois Hollande in Paris on the side-lines of CoP 21 in 2015.
 The vision and mission of the alliance is to provide a dedicated platform for cooperation
among solar resource rich countries that lie completely or partial between the Tropics
of Capricorn & Cancer.

National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)

 Government is implementing the NAPCC with a view to enhance the ecological
sustainability of India’s development path and address climate change.
 NAPCC comprises, inter alia, of eight National Missions in specific areas of Solar Energy,
Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the Himalayan
Eco-system, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic knowledge for Climate
Change with the approved funding under sectoral outlays.
 State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC): State governments have drafted climate
strategies aligned with the eight National Missions under the NAPCC. The strategies
focus on issues ranging from climate mitigation, energy efficiency, and resource
conservation to climate adaptation.

FAME Scheme for E-mobility

 Union Government in April 2015 launched Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid
and Electric vehicles (FAME) – India Scheme with an aim to boost sales of eco-friendly
vehicles in the country. It is a part of the National Mission for Electric Mobility.

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

 Ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and a
sewerage connection;

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 Increase the amenity value of cities by developing greenery and well maintained open
paces (e.g. parks); and
 Reduce pollution by switching to public transport or constructing facilities for non-
motorized transport (e.g. walking and cycling).
 All these outcomes are valued by citizens, particularly women, and indicators and
standards have been prescribed by the Ministry of Urban Development in the form of
Service Level Benchmarks.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

 It is an ambitious social welfare scheme of the Government launched in 2016.
 Under the scheme, the government aims to provide LPG connections to BPL households
in the country.
 The scheme is aimed at replacing the unclean cooking fuels mostly used in the rural
India with the clean and more efficient LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas).

UJALA scheme
 State run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) today said it has distributed over 30 crore
light emitting diode (LED) bulbs across the country under the scheme.

Swachh Bharat Mission

 Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Movement) is a campaign that was launched in
2014. The campaign seeks to clean the streets, roads and infrastructure of the country’s
4041 statutory cities and towns.

National Clean Air Program (NCAP)

 The tentative national level target of 20%–30% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10
concentration by 2024 is proposed under the NCAP taking 2017 as the base year for
the comparison of concentration.
 Overall objective of the NCAP is comprehensive mitigation actions for prevention,
control and abatement of air pollution besides augmenting the air quality monitoring
network across the country and strengthening the awareness and capacity building
activities.

SUPER-EFFICIENT AIR CONDITIONING PROGRAMME

€ CONTEXT • Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of four National Public
Sector Enterprises under Ministry of Power, Government of India launched its Super-
Efficient Air Conditioning Programme for residential and institutional consumers in
the BSES area.
 These Super-Efficient Air Conditioners are 40 percent more efficient than, but priced
comparably with, the 3-star ACs currently available in the market.

€ ABOUT Benefits
 Besides promoting energy efficiency, the Super-Efficient AC programme will also help
to reduce the peak power demand in South and West Delhi by 22MW, enabling the two
organisations to harness synergies to promote energy security and sustainability.
 The programme directly addresses the prospect of the nearly four-fold increase in
energy consumption from buildings and cooling appliances in India by 2032.
 It will also address the goals of India’s Cooling Action Plan and Hydrochlorofluro-
carbons Phase Out Management Plan, enabling achievement of India’s targets under
the Kigali and Paris Agreements.

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Programme
 EESL and BSES have joined hands to implement a 12-month pilot of the programme by
exchanging an agreement.
 BSES Rajdhani Power Limited would assist in aggregating demand and providing local
marketing and outreach support to promote energy efficient technologies in the areas it
currently services, thereby covering over 25 lakh residential and institutional consumers
in South and West Delhi.
 EESL will conduct all activities related to source, supply, complaint management and
redressal, and fulfilment of warranty obligations for the products.
 Applying its proven business model of demand aggregation, EESL will mobilize the
capital of INR 150 crores for the programme while redeeming its investment through
upfront payments for the super-efficient ACs from customers.
 EESL has initiated the procurement process of super-efficient ACs, thereby capitalising
on opportunities for leveraging economies of scale through demand aggregation,
and so reducing the cost of this superior green technology to consumers. Based on its
past experiences with bulk procurement for other technologies and programmes, EESL
expects to discover prices that are 20-30 percent less than the retail costs of similar
technologies currently available in the market.

International Finance
 EESL’s investment in the programme is partially supported by a grant from the Global
Environment Facility.
 Further, Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing necessary grant support and loan
while United Nations Environment (UNEP) is providing technical assistance support to
the Super-Efficient AC programme.

Global Environment Facility (GEF)

 It is an independent financing mechanism that was established on the eve of the
1992 Rio Earth Summit to address global environmental issues.
 The GEF is an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions,
civil society organizations and the private sector.

KISAN URJA SURAKSHA EVAM UTTHAAN MAHABHIYAN

(KUSUM SCHEME)

€ CONTEXT • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved launch of Kisan Urja
Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan with the objective of providing financial and
water security to farmers.

€ ABOUT • The proposed scheme consists of three components:

 10,000 MW of Decentralized Ground Mounted Grid Connected Renewable Power
Plants.
 Under Component A, Renewable power plants of capacity 500 KW to 2 MW will be
setup by individual farmers/ cooperatives/panchayats /farmer producer organisations
(FPO) on their barren or cultivable lands.
 The power generated will be purchased by the DISCOMs at Feed in tariffs determined
by respective SERC.
 The scheme will open a stable and continuous source of income to the rural land
owners.

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 Performance Based Incentives @ Rs. 0.40 per unit for five years to be provided to
DISCOMs.

Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone Solar Powered Agriculture Pumps

 Under Component B, individual farmers will be supported to install standalone solar
pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP.
 Solar PV capacity in kW equal to the pump capacity in HP is allowed under the
scheme.

Solarisation of 10 Lakh Grid-connected Solar Powered Agriculture

Pumps
 Under Component C of the scheme, individual farmers will be supported to solarise
pumps of capacity up to 7.5 HP.
 Solar PV capacity up to two times of pump capacity in kW is allowed under the
scheme.
 The farmer will be able to use the generated energy to meet the irrigation needs and
the excess available energy will be sold to DISCOM.
 This will help to create an avenue for extra income to the farmers, and for the States to
meet their RPO targets.

Aim
 All three components combined, the scheme aims to add a solar capacity of 25,750 MW
by 2022. The total central financial support provided under the scheme would be Rs.
34,422 crore.

Implementation
 The Component-A and Component-C will be implemented on pilot mode for 1000 MW
capacity and one lakh grid connected agriculture pumps respectively and thereafter, will
be scale-up on success of pilot run.
 Component-B will be implemented in full-fledged manner.

Finance:
 For both Component-B and Component-C, central financial assistance (CFA) of 30% of
the benchmark cost or the tender cost, whichever is lower, will be provided.
 The State Government will give a subsidy of 30%; and the remaining 40% will be
provided by the farmer.
 Bank finance may be made available for meeting 30% of the cost.
 The remaining 10% will be provided by the farmer.
 Higher CFA of 50% will be provided for North Eastern States, Sikkim, Jammu & Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Lakshadweep and A&N Islands.

€ SIGNIFICANCE • The Scheme will have substantial environmental impact in terms of savings of CO2
emissions.
 All three components of the Scheme combined together are likely to result in saving of
about 27 million tonnes of CO2 emission per annum.
 Further, Component-B of the Scheme on standalone solar pumps may result in saving
of 1.2 billion liters of diesel per annum and associated savings in the foreign exchange
due to reduction of import of crude oil.
 The scheme has direct employment potential. Besides increasing self-employment the
proposal is likely to generate employment opportunity equivalent to 6.31 lakh job years
for skilled and unskilled workers.

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KHADI GRAMODYOG VIKAS YOJANA

€ CONTEXT • Cabinet approves continuation of Khadi Gramodyog Vikas Yojana from 2017-18 to
2019-20.

€ ABOUT Approvals include:

 Continuing the existing schemes of MPDA, Khadi Grant, ISEC and Village Industry Grant,
all subsumed under ‘Khadi and Gramodyog Vikas Yojana’ at the total cost of Rs. 2800
crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
 Bringing in a new component of ‘Rozgar Yukt Gaon’ to introduce enterprise-based
operation in the Khadi sector and to create employment opportunities for thousands of
new artisans for 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Rozgar Yukta Gaon: It is aimed at introducing an ‘Enterprise-led Business Model’ in

place of ‘Subsidy-led model’ through partnership among 3 stakeholders- KRDP-assisted
Khadi Institution, Artisans and Business Partner.
It will be rolled out in 50 Villages by providing 10,000 Charkhas, 2000 looms & 100
warping units to Khadi artisans, and would create direct employment for 250 Artisans
per village.

 Under the Village Industry verticals, special focus shall be on Agro-based and food
processing (Honey, Palmgur etc.), Handmade Paper and Leather, Pottery and Wellness
and Cosmetics sectors through Product Innovation, Design Development & Product
Diversification.
 For this initiative, advanced skill development programmes shall be conducted through
existing Centres of Excellence such as CGCRI, CFTRI, IIFPT, CBRTI, KNHPI, IPRITI etc
 Another intervention is to set up 4 Design Houses across the country to capture regional
variations, to provide access to Khadi Institutions, to evolve modern designs, ethnic
wear etc. with an investment of Rs.5 crore each.
 The other key component is to make the ‘Production Assistance’ competitive and
incentive based.
 While the Khadi Institutions would automatically be given the financial assistance of
30%, in order to become eligible for the additional incentive of 30%, these institutions
must strive for efficiency, optimal utilization of resources, reduction of waste, effective
managerial practices etc.
 As a part of rationalization exercise, 8 different schemes of Khadi & Village Industries
are now merged under 2 umbrella heads i.e. ‘Khadi Vikas Yojana’ and ‘Gramodyog Vikas
Yojana’:
 Khadi Vikas Yojana [Market Promotion & Development Assistance (MPDA), Interest
Subsidy Eligibility Certificate (ISEC), Workshed, Strengthening Weak Infra, Aam
Aadmi Bima Yojana, Khadi Grant and Khadi & VI S&T]
 Gramodyog Vikas Yojanaa [Village Industries Grant].

NATIONAL RURAL ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION

PROJECT

€ CONTEXT • The Union Cabinet approved the implementation of an externally aided project
namely National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP).

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 It will be implemented under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural

Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) through loan assistance (IBRD Credit) from
World Bank.

€ ABOUT More on news

 The development objective of the NRETP for India is to establish efficient and effective
institutional platforms of the rural poor to enable them to increase household income
through sustainable livelihood enhancements, and improved access to financial and
selected public services.
 The additional financing will bring following changes:
 The results target and the intermediate indicators are updated to reflect the changes
introduced by the AF.
 The project will co-locate areas for investment with those selected under mission
Antyodaya.
 The project will update the following components-
 Institutional and human capacity development;
 State livelihood support;
 Innovation and partnership support;
 Project implementation support; and

Aajeevika - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)

 It was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in June 2011.
 Aided in part through investment support by the World Bank, the Mission aims at
creating efficient and effective institutional platforms of the rural poor.
 It is enabling them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood
enhancements and improved access to financial services.
 NRLM set out with an agenda to cover 7 Crore rural poor households, across 600
districts, 6000 blocks, 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats and 6 lakh villages in the country
through self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions and
support them for livelihoods collectives in a period of 8-10 years.
 In addition, the poor would be facilitated to achieve increased access to rights,
entitlements and public services, diversified risk and better social indicators of
empowerment.
 In November 2015, the program was renamed Deendayal Antayodaya Yojana (DAY-
NRLM).

OPERATION DIGITAL BOARD

€ CONTEXT • The Minister of Human Resource Development launched Operation Digital Board to
leverage technology in order to boost quality education in the country.
 It is a revolutionary step which will make the learning as well as the teaching process
interactive and popularize flipped learning as a pedagogical approach.

€ ABOUT More on news

 Digital board will be introduced all over the country in government and government
aided schools from class 9th onwards as well as in higher education institutions.

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 The process will begin from the coming session of 2019.

 ODB aims at converting a class room into a digital class room and in addition to
availability of e-resources at any time and at any place to students
 It will also help in provisioning of personalised adaptive learning as well as intelligent
tutoring by exploiting emerging technologies like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence
& Data Analytics.

Need
 The Union Minister said that the biggest challenge facing education sector in the
country is maintaining acceptable quality standards across the country.
 The spread of educational technology and connectivity has given an opportunity to
resolve this issue and aim at equity in educational standards.

Additional Advantage
 It will leverage the existing platform of e-Pathshala, DIKSHA, NROER,NPTEL, e-pgpathshala
SWAYAM and SWAYAM-Prabha DTH Channels etc. by MHRD have provided adequate
content of high quality which can be taken to every classroom, and thereby facilitating
blended learning and flip class learning.
 These pedagogical interventions can adequately raise the standards of teaching,
irrespective of the location of the educational institutes.
 Such technology enabled learning can also inspire teachers across the country to raise
their own standards of teaching.

Implementation in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

 UGC will be the implementing agency for ODB in HEIs.
 UGC has passed a resolution for extending digital education to every classroom in the
country by 2022.
 Based on the readiness, UGC proposed to take up 300 universities and about 10,000
colleges in the first phase covering 2 lakh classrooms.
 For the 2 lakh class rooms, the cost is estimated at Rs. 2000 crores. This can be
implemented as a Central scheme, as a loan from HEFA.

Implementation in Schools
 Digital/SMART board will be provided in all Government and Government–aided schools
having Secondary and Sr. Secondary classes.
 Nearly 1.5 lakh Secondary/Sr. Secondary schools will be covered under the scheme in
collaboration with the State and UTs

WOMEN LIVELIHOOD BONDS

€ CONTEXT • The World Bank, the Small Industries Development Bank (Sidbi) and the UN Women,
along with 10 wealth management firms and leading corporates announced the launch
of a new social impact bond to offer credit to rural women entrepreneurs.

€ ABOUT More on news

 To be raised by SIDBI, the Women’s Livelihood Bonds will offer an annual coupon of 3
per cent and will have tenure of five years.
 The fund to be raised through this bond will be around Rs 300 crore in multiple tranches
over the next three months and will be transferred through SIDBI into the micro- finance
industry for small and medium women entrepreneurs.

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 The funds will be used for lending to individual women entrepreneurs in sectors such as
agriculture, food processing, services and manufacturing.
 The new bonds will help individual women entrepreneurs in sectors such as agriculture,
manufacturing, services and food processing to borrow around Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1.50 lakh
at an annual interest rate capped at around 13% or less, almost half the rate charged
currently by microfinance institutes .
 The microfinance institutes have been trying to catering to this segment of people by
forming self-help groups (SHGs), however, the credit limit is usually capped at Rs 50,000
or Rs 1 lakh.

GREEN INDIA MISSION

€ CONTEXT • According to a Parliamentary committee report ‘Performance of the National Action

Plan on Climate Change’, Green India Mission that is aimed at “protecting, restoring
and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and responding to climate change”,
is grossly underfunded.

€ ABOUT More on news

Highlights of the Report

 During 2017-18, Rs 47.8 crore has been allocated for the scheme which is grossly
insufficient as the committed liability for 2015-16 and 2016-17 is Rs 89.53 crore which
is much more than the budget allocated.
 However, the scheme is proposed for 10 years with an outlay of Rs 60,000 crore.
 The panel raises concerns about the targets set by GIM on India’s Intended Nationally
Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change.
 The committee pointed out that the afforestation done under the mission was only
aimed at increasing tree count without considering the soil and weather conditions.
 Though plantation activity is aimed at increasing green cover, they cannot replace actual
forest cover. Forest has plants and trees of numerous varieties and sizes and shapes.
Forests grow naturally and according to climate conditions existing in the area.

What is Green India Mission?

 The National Mission for Green India (GIM) is one of the eight Missions outlined under
the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
 It aims at protecting; restoring and enhancing India’s diminishing forest cover and
responding to climate change by a combination of adaptation and mitigation
measures.
 This mission has adopted an integrated cross-sectoral approach as it has been
implemented on both public as well as private lands with a key role of the local
communities in planning, decision making, implementation and monitoring.

What are the main objectives?

 To increase forest/tree cover to the extent of 5 million hectares (mha) and improve
quality of forest/tree cover on another 5 mha of forest/non-forest lands;
 To improve/enhance eco-system services like carbon sequestration and storage
(in forests and other ecosystems), hydrological services and biodiversity; along with
provisioning services like fuel, fodder, and timber and non-timber forest produces
(NTFPs); and
 To increase forest based livelihood income of about 3 million households.

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National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)

 Government is implementing the NAPCC with a view to enhance the ecological
sustainability of India’s development path and address climate change.
 NAPCC comprises, inter alia, of eight National Missions in specific areas of Solar
Energy, Enhanced Energy Efficiency, Sustainable Habitat, Water, Sustaining the
Himalayan Eco-system, Green India, Sustainable Agriculture and Strategic knowledge
for Climate Change with the approved funding under sectoral outlays.

GRID CONNECTED ROOFTOP SOLAR PROGRAMME

€ CONTEXT • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs given its approval for the Phase-II
of Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme for achieving cumulative capacity of
40,000 MW from Rooftop Solar (RTS) Projects by the year 2022.
 The programme will be implemented with total central financial support of Rs.11,814
crore.

€ ABOUT More on news

 In the Phase-II Programme Central Financial Assistance (CFA) for the residential sector
has been restructured with availability of 40% CFA for RTS systems up to 3 kW capacity
and 20% for RTS system capacity beyond 3 kW and up to 10 kW.
 For Group Housing Societies/Residential Welfare Associations (GHS/RAW), CFA will be
limited to 20% for RTS plants for supply of power to common facilities.
 The capacity eligible for CFA for GHS/RAW will be limited to 10 kW per house with
maximum total capacity upto 500 kWp.
 CFA under residential category will be provided for 4000 MW capacity and the same will
be provided on the basis of benchmark cost or tender cost, which is lower.
 Central financial support will not be available for other category i.e., institutional,
educational, social, government, commercial, industrial, etc.
 Under Phase-II Programme, focus will be on increased involvement of DISCOMs.
Performance based incentives will be provided to DISCOMs based on RTS capacity
achieved in a financial year.

What is Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Programme?

 It is one of a series of World Bank’s engagements in India’s solar sector and is an
important means for Ministry of New and Renewable Energy to implement its scheme
to install 10GW of grid connected rooftop solar power on an accelerated basis.
The program has two components:
 Commercial Lending for GRPV
 Institutional support and Technical Assistance
Essentially two types of grid-connected rooftop systems are available:
 Grid-tied wherein systems are primarily designed to supply the generated power to
both the grid and the connected load (at consumer end).
 These systems will not generate power during a power failure as the inverter shuts down
the system to stop sending power into the grid and avoids the risk of electrocuting
utility personnel who are working to repair the grid (i.e. islanding protection”).
 Grid-interactive system works in conjunction with either a battery backup or diesel
generator to support the load even during a power failure.

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Objective of the Programme

 To promote the grid connected SPV rooftop and small SPV power generating
plants among the residential, community, institutional, industrial and commercial
establishments.
 To mitigate the dependence on fossil fuel based electricity generation and encourage
environment friendly Solar electricity generation.
 To create enabling environment for investment in solar energy sector by private sector,
state government and the individuals.
 To create enabling environment for supply of solar power from rooftop and small plants
to the grid.
 To encourage innovation in addressing market needs and promoting sustainable
business models and ensures employment opportunities.
 To provide support to channel partners and potential beneficiaries, within the framework
of boundary conditions and in a flexible demand driven mode.
 To create a paradigm shift needed for commoditization of grid connected SPV rooftop
applications.
 To support consultancy services, seminars, symposia, capacity building, awareness
campaigns, human resource development, etc.
 To encourage replacement of diesel, wherever possible.

PUBLIC DOMAIN NAME SYSTEMS (DNS)

€ CONTEXT • Ministry of Electronics & IT is planning to launch public domain name system (DNS)
server for India to provide faster and more secure browsing experience to internet
users in the country.
 This will ensure that the citizens’ data is stored locally and also protect them from
malware or phishing attacks.

€ ABOUT More on new

 India’s Public DNS, as an inherent feature, would ensure fast access, enhanced availability,
secure access, maintain data privacy and data localization within India and will be one of
the key components to ensure Internet Resilience.
 The new DNS will be placed across the country to minimise outage and would be
available round the clock. Users can simply use it by typing the IP number into the
Internet browser.
 The Centre has also launched a new email platform for all government employees
including those in states and Union Territories.
 The rollout of the public DNS is expected to be completed in the next four to six months.
The NIC is currently using the public DNS within the government network.
 The government has said users will be free to shift to the India public DNS.

What is Domain Name Systems (DNS) and how it works?

 It is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information online through domain
names, like nytimes.com or espn.com.
 Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain
names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.
 Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines
use to find the device. DNS servers eliminate the need for humans to memorize IP
addresses such as 192.168.1.1 (in IPv4).

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 The process of DNS resolution involves converting a hostname (such as www.example.

com) into a computer-friendly IP address (such as 192.168.1.1).
 An IP address is given to each device on the Internet, and that address is necessary to
find the appropriate Internet device - like a street address is used to find a particular
home.
 When a user wants to load a webpage, a translation must occur between what a user
types into their web browser (example.com) and the machine-friendly address necessary
to locate the example.com webpage.

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IAS 2019

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