UPSC Mains Answer Writing Practice GS -Test 21

Check All  Mains Questions $ Answers

1. Critically analyze the strategies involved in the National Clean Air Program to tackle air pollution problems across India? (10 Marks) (150 Words)

ANSWER: The Central Government launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) as a long-term, time-bound, national level strategy to tackle the air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner with targets to achieve 20% to 30% reduction in Particulate Matter concentrations by 2024 keeping 2017 as the base year for the comparison of concentration

Features

  • It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national framework for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.
  • It is the first-ever effort in the country to frame a national framework for air quality management with a time-bound reduction target.
  • City-specific action plans are being formulated for non-attainment cities that are considered to have air quality worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
  • City-specific action plans are being formulated for non-attainment cities that are considered to have air quality worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
  • The Smart Cities programme will be used to launch the NCAP in the 43 smart cities falling in the list of the 102 non-attainment cities.
  • The Smart Cities programme will be used to launch the NCAP in the 43 smart cities falling in the list of the 102 non-attainment cities.
  • NCAP talks of a collaborative, multi-scale and cross-sectoral coordination between central ministries, state governments and local bodies.
  • The CPCB will execute the nation-wide programme for the prevention, control, and abatement of air pollution within the framework of the NCAP.
  • NCAP will be “institutionalised” by respective ministries and will be organised through inter-sectoral groups that will also include the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Health, NITI Aayog, and experts from various field.

Other features of NCAP include –

  • Increasing the number of monitoring stations in the country including rural monitoring stations
  • Technology support
  • Emphasis on awareness and capacity building initiatives
  • Setting up of certification agencies for monitoring equipment
  • Source apportionment studies
  • Emphasis on enforcement
  • Specific sectoral interventions.
  • that can be even stronger than the common minimum national programme as defined by NCAP.
  • The government should also include private parties in collaboration to mitigate environmental concerns. Changes require proper recording of data of the variables in the atmosphere. The goal of reducing PM2.5 and PM10 pollution by 20-30 per cent requires dense high-quality air quality information that can help identify hidden local patterns in the data.
  • The most baffling part of NCAP is the absence of a robust fiscal and funding strategy. Only a pittance of Rs 300 crore is being earmarked for NCAP. Clearly, NCAP cannot be sustainable nor can it gain strength or make a difference on a longer-term basis if it does not have a clear fiscal strategy
  • According to National Green Tribunal given the rapid rise of air pollution and health issues related to it the time frame of reduction that is 2024 has to be reduce
  • NGT further reiterated that The Right to Clean Air stood recognized as part of Right to Life and failure to address air pollution is a denial of Right to Life under Article 21

2. What do you understand by desertification? Examine the reasons for desertification in India. (10 Marks) (150 Words)

ANSWER: Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid.

DESERTIFICATION IN INDIA

  • Of India’s total geographical area of 328.72 million hectares (MHA), 96.4 MHA (32%) is under desertification.
  • In eight states—Rajasthan, Delhi, Goa, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Tripura and Himachal Pradesh—around 40 to 70 per cent of land has undergone desertification.
  • 26 of 29 Indian states have reported an increase in the area undergoing desertification in the past 10 years.

Major reasons for desertification in India

  • Unsustainable agriculture practice: The cultivation of water-intensive crops and unmindful agro-climatic cropping pattern.
  • Soil Erosion: It is responsible for around 10% of desertification. Soil Erosion is the loss of soil cover mainly due to rainfall and surface runoff water. Water erosion is observed in both hot and cold desert areas, across various land covers and with varying severity levels.
  • Vegetation Degradation: Vegetation degradation is observed mainly as deforestation / forest-blanks / shifting cultivation and degradation in grazing/grassland as well as in scrubland. Destruction of vegetation, most often by humans, accelerates desertification.
  • Wind Erosion: It denotes the spread of sand by various processes, even up to lofty altitudes of Himalayas. Wind erosion removes the topsoil, which is rich in all plant nutrients and bacterial activities.
  • Salinity:It occurs mostly in cultivated lands, especially in the irrigated areas. Soil salinity refers to the water dissolvable salt present in the soil. Salinity can develop naturally, or human-induced.
  • Human-made settlement: All land degradation processes are induced directly or indirectly by human intervention. It includes activities like mining and human intervention
  • Climate change:Climate change plays a huge role in desertification. As the days get warmer and periods of drought become more frequent, desertification becomes more and more imminent.
  • Lack of knowledge and awareness: There is inadequate quantitative data on current land use in arid and semi-arid regions of the country. Whatever information is available is scattered across many agencies and institutions and is not readily accessible to researchers, planners, and policymakers, hampering the full assessment of land degradation and desertification problems and the quantification of economic losses to the region.
  • Other factors: they include waterlogging, frost shattering, mass movement, barren and rocky land type

Conclusion: Water management practises, community participation, and sustainable and climate smart agricultural practices are the major ways to prevent desertification.In fact, many drought ravaged villages like tonk district of Rajasthan have shown India can get rid of desertification

3. The value of global assets exposed to the sea level rise is projected to rise between 12-20% of global GDP. In this light, examine the causes for sea-level rise? Examine its multidimensional impacts.  (10 Marks) (150 Words)

ANSWER: SLR is an increase in the level of the world’s oceans due to the effects of climate change, especially global warming, induced by three primary factors – Thermal Expansion, melting glaciers, Loss of Greenland and Antarctica’s ice sheets.

Reason for sea level rise

  • Eustasy– This is the term used for changes in sea level due to changes in the amount of ocean water
  • Isostasy– Changes in Earth’s geology. The tectonic plates of the Earth are moving at a slow pace constantly. This changes the structure of the Earth and increases or decreases the height of land above and below sea level.
  • Thermal expansion-Warm water expands and then water takes up more space. This increases the ocean water levels.
  • Ice loss from Greenland and West Antarctica-These places had massive ice sheets which are now melting. Melting water from above and sea water from below is seeping below the ice sheets of these areas. This is causing the ice to move more quickly into the oceans.
  • Adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere is making the temperature rise rapidly and adding to global warming.
  • Local factors: Over relatively short time spans (hours to years), the influence of tides, storms, earthquakes and landslides and climatic variability—such as El Niño—dominates sea level variations at local level

Impact of sea level rise

  • When sea levels rise as rapidly as they have been, even a small increase can have devastating effects on coastal habitats farther inland, it can cause destructive erosion, wetland flooding, aquifer and agricultural soil contamination with salt, and lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants.
  • Higher sea levels are coinciding with more dangerous hurricanes and typhoons that move more slowly and drop more rain, contributing to more powerful storm surges that can strip away everything in their path. One study found that between 1963 and 2012, almost half of all deaths from Atlantic hurricanes were caused by storm surges.
  • Already, flooding in low-lying coastal areas is forcing people to migrate to higher ground, and millions more are vulnerable from flood risk and other climate change effects. The prospect of higher coastal water levels threatens basic services such as Internet access, since much of the underlying communications infrastructure lies in the path of rising seas.
  • Scientists predict that warming of earth will continue and is likely to accelerate. By 2100 scientists say that oceans might rise up to 6.5 feet! This is enough to sweep off many small cities along the Unites States.
  • Most of the oceanic creatures travel long distances to reach for a suitable breeding ground. Due to sea level rise thesebreeding grounds may start to disappear and submerged under the ocean. e.g. Olive ridley turtles breeding ground off the coast of Odisha and west Bengal.
  • Low-lying islands would be swallowed by the oceans, leading to the disappearance of large land areas and even some countries. For instance Maldives have conducted one of their cabinet meetings underground water to get the attention of the world towards the issue
  • As a consequence of loss of habitat, the Earth could witness a dramatic decline in fish stocks.
  • Plantation agricultureacross the oceans are going to be hampered. e.g. Coconut plantation, palm plantation across the oceans.
  • With sea-level rise, the baselines from which most maritime zones (defined under United Nation Convention on Law of Seas (UNCLOS)) are measured will change. As a consequence, the outer boundary of the zone may also change, retreating landward, which may lead to maritime disputes.
  • The value of global assets exposed to this change is projected to be between $6-$9 trillion or 12-20% of the global GDP.

The threat of sea level rise is near and real. If necessary steps are not taken at this moment then it might result in the destruction of not only the coastal environment and surrounding but the domino like effect will follow which will affect the whole planet earth. Hence, it becomes our responsibility to take a step forward to save our mother earth.

4. What do you understand by Responsible AI? What can be done to ensure the adoption of responsible AI technologies in India? (10 Marks) (150 Words)

ANSWER: Responsible AI is a framework for bringing many of these critical. practices together. It focuses on ensuring the ethical, transparent and accountable use of AI technologies in a manner consistent with user expectations, organizational values and societal laws and norms.

Things to be done to adopt responsible AI in India

  • Establish clear ‘Principles for Responsible AI’
  • Identify possible policy and governance recommendations
  • Enforcement structures and incentive mechanisms for Responsible AI
  • The nuances associated with AI requires a relook at the existing

regulations Ex: While accountability laws exist (‘Consumer Protection Act’) a framework is required to assign accountability for AI systems

  • Some sectors have unique considerations that may require sector-specific laws for AI Ex: Use of AI in administrative decisions by the State would be required to explain the decision making process
  • Certain use cases under few sectors are termed ‘high-risk’ and have specific requirements. Such use-cases must have an accompanying ‘oversight’ mechanism
  • A law have to be framed which would reduce biased decisions and outcomes;
  • For areas such as privacy, inclusiveness and accountability, regulations already exist but need to adapt for AI specific challenges;
  • Establishment of AI may cause tremendous job losses which would have great impact on citizens from all sectors.Skilling, adapting legislations and regulations has to be brought to leverage benefits and harness new job opportunities.
  • Psychological profiling enabled by AI and the ease of spreading propaganda through online platforms has potential to cause social disharmony and disrupt democratic process.Government has to come up with multidimensional approach to address this
  • Standard Setting Bodies has to be established to Set standards for research or technology that may use AI.
  • AI principles has to be updated when new loopholes arise and standard should always be compatible with international standards
  • Introduce ethics of AI into the university curriculum
  • The Government may fund specific research projects in responsible AI;
  • Ethical Committees (EC) must be enacted to ensure the AI system is developed, deployed, operated and maintained in accordance with the Principles

AI is the need of the hour but India must follow all the standards to adopt responsible AI so that a great leap for Indians come with boon rather than bane

5. “The low participative planning and special health needs of women makes them particularly vulnerable to disasters and need special attention”. Analyze. (150 Words) (10 Marks)

 ANSWER: A disaster is a physical event that leads to sudden disruption of normal life causing severe damage to life and property. A disaster occurs only when hazards and vulnerability meet. Eg: flood, earthquake etc.

Women are particularly vulnerable during disasters and post disasters because:

  • WHO research suggests that women and children are particularly affected by disasters, accounting for more than seventy five percent of displaced persons. Eg: 77% of the dead from the 2004 Tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, were women and girls.
  • Women and girls and 55% of the dead from the 2015 Nepal earthquake were women and girls.
  • Gender roles make women to be the primary caretakers for those affected by disasters- including children, the injured and sick and the elderly thereby increasing their emotional and material work load.
  • Women’s vulnerability is further increased by theloss of men in the family who often act as the source of subsistence in the family especially in developing and least developed countries.
  • Gender inequalityin socio economic spheres create gulf between men and women in household decisions about use of relief assets, voluntary relief and recovery work, access to evacuation and relief goods and employment in disaster planning, relief and recovery programs etc.
  • The specific health needs of women and children are usually lostin the midst of public announcements issued by the government agencies during a disaster making them more vulnerable.
  • Women are often forced to sexual violence in emergency situationsforcing them to psychosocial damages. The health volunteers in emergency situations are not adequately trained to deal with victims of sexual violence.

 

The increased vulnerability of women to the disasters have negative consequences on their life. According to the United Nations Handbook of Estimating the Socioeconomic and Environmental Effects of Disaster, there will be a reduction of share of women in productive activities in the formal and informal sectors. It can have a psycho social impact on women’s mental health and can even impact the nutritional and health needs of infant children. Thus, it is necessary to integrate gender related issues in disaster management.

It is also worth noting that the post disaster period holds great potential for working to build women’s capacities and challenge gender stereotypes. It is in this context that Sendai framework gives the directive to instill gender sensitive disaster management steps such as:

  • Review existing national and local sectoral databases to determine data gaps from a gender perspective.
  • Develop incentives and rewards for how well gender responsive Disaster Risk Reduction  is integrated in curriculum.
  • Develop women’s leadership in areas of planning, decision making and monitoring capacity to develop resilient livelihoods.
  • Awareness raising programs on equal sharing of domestic work and unpaid care work  to reduce and redistribute the burden
  • Provide accessible women’s safe spaces for responding to and addressing gender based violence, accessing to information relevant to response and recovery etc.

 

Countries and stakeholders need to integrate the monitoring of the implementation of these recommended actions of the Sendai Framework for gender inclusive disaster management process.

 6. Open access to genetic resources where biological materials could be freely accessed and shared, is inevitable to address the multifaceted crisis faced by the planet earth. Analyze the statement in the light of Nagoya Protocol. (15 Marks) (250 Words)

ANSWER: The Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization (ABS) is a supplementary agreement to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

Importance

  • It addresses the issue of traditional knowledge and pathogens-for example how developed countries may in emergency situations obtain a flu virus in order to develop a vaccine to counter a possible epidemic like the covid19
  • It says governments should begin considering ways of recompensing developing countries for genetic material that may have been collected years, decades even centuries ago- if in future they become used to produce say a new pharmaceutical or crop variety which can address the health and food issues of the world
  • The protocol aids in ensuring benefit-sharing and thus leads to better conservation and sustainable use of genetic resources. This, in turn, leads to better conservation of biodiversity.
  • Genetic resources from animals, plants, and microorganisms are progressively valuable in the development of specialty enzymes, small molecules, or enhanced genes. These can be used in many areas, including drug development, crop protection, specialized chemical production, and also in industrial processing.
  • The protocol gives researchers a framework in which to access these genetic resources for biotechnology research in return for a fair share in the benefits arising from the usage.
  • Indigenous and local communities may receive benefits through a legal framework that respects the value of traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources.

7. Post COVID recoveries may affect Paris Climate Agreement target of limiting the global temperature rise within 2 degree Celsius but by keeping green pandemic recoveries we may be able to keep it. Discuss. (15 Marks) (250 Words)

 ANSWER: The Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change. It was adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris, on 12 December 2015 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. Its goal is to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels.

Post covid policies that deter target

  1. US lowers vehicle emission standards
    1. First, fuel efficiency standards for new cars were significantly reduced. This could result in increased gasoline consumption by 80 billion tons, increasing carbon emissions in the atmosphere.
  2. China temporarily suspends environmental regulations
    1. As China reopens its economy, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment, announced in mid-March that it would temporarily suspend environmental standards for small businesses in order to accelerate economic recovery.
  3. Brazil reduces surveillance of Amazon Rainforest
    1. In Brazil, due to the coronavirus outbreak, fewer Government environmental enforcement officers are going into the Amazon and environmental monitoring efforts have been scaled back. Indigenous populations – who usually defend the Amazon against illegal logging, miners and wildfires – are retreating further into the forest to avoid the coronavirus outbreak.
  4. Major international environment summits postponed
    1. 2020 was supposed to be the most important year for global environment policy. No fewer than five major United Nations Laws were supposed to be agreed on. By postponing these summits (much of the work had already been done in previous years), valuable political momentum may be lost as priorities shift in the wake of COVID-19.
  5. Risk that the economic stimulus becomes a handout for polluters
    1. The stimulus program varies in size from 20% of GDP in Germany to 10% of GDP in the United States. However, several groups in the US have criticized this bailout as potentially being a bailout for heavily polluting industries such as the oil and gas industry, aviation industry and cruise line industries.
  6. Growing carbon footprint of e-commerce
    1. As online purchases have increased around the world, there is greater attention on the amount of packaging and carbon footprint of e-commerce platforms.

Green recoveries that would help maintain the target

  1. Invest in sustainable infrastructure
    1. Infrastructure investments are an effective way to boost economic activity and create jobs.  
    2. Data from the 2008-09 financial crisis shows that South Korea, which directed nearly 70% of its stimulus towards green measures, rebounded faster than other economies in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
    3. In the United States’ 2009 Great Recession recovery package, investments in clean energy and public transport created more jobs than traditional investments.
    4. scaling up the electrification and adoption of public transport will be critically important to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. This should involve closer coordination with the electricity sector and a greater focus on vehicle charging infrastructure
  2. Use fiscal mechanisms for sustainable recovery
    1. iscal mechanisms can help support recovery and resilience efforts, while promoting low-carbon development. The Indian government has announced an economic stimulus of INR 1.7 trillion ($24 billion), and is exploring another bailout of INR 750 billion for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), among other steps. Though MSMEs need immediate financing to deal with their wage bills, the government can also infuse capital for them to undertake needed industrial energy efficiency upgrades.
  3. Encourage long-term change in behavior
    1. encouraging conservation in energy – through nudges and tariff reforms – can drive down consumption. Promoting reuse, recycling and repair models for consumption can contribute to a circular economy and reduce the waste generated by current business models. Supporting the continuation of work-from-home policies can drive down road traffic congestion and air pollution.
    2. While encouraging the continuation of these new trends, the government should also foster new behaviors. For example, with nearly 80% of the population expected to be in the middle-income bracket by 2030, it is extremely important to attract them to public transport options. The government could achieve this through expanding connectivity to business districts, improving and streamlining the network and discouraging the use of cars through measures such as road congestion pricing, paid street parking and higher taxes on luxury vehicles.
  4. Renewable Energy
    1. The electricity sector of south Asia in general and India in particular  has a large carbon footprint due to the huge dependence on coal-fired power plants. Even as the cost of renewable energy has been declining, the grid infrastructure for the integration of renewable energy remains inadequate
    2. The renewable energy sector must increase its share in the total power supply. Energy storage infrastructure will be able to respond effectively to changes in demand and supply and thus help in the grid integration of renewable power
    3. In 2019, India started the rooftop solar scheme with state-wise targets. The government has encouraged each state to have at least one ‘solar city’ that would meet their electricity needs through solar power.
    4. Rooftop technology could also be one way towards low-cost urbanisation where employment can be created away from a few urban centres. The renewable energy sector has the potential to create job opportunities, especially in rural India.
  5. Tree planting schemesare another effective way to create jobs in countries that have enough land available, accounting for 10% of the growth in GDP and 27% of the additional employment in India, while in Poland it could be responsible for half of the new jobs created.  
  6. Other methods include
    1. grants, loans and tax relief directed towards green transport, circular economy and clean energy research, development and deployment;
    2. financial support to households and businesses for energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy installations;
    3. new funding and programmes to create jobs and stimulate economic activity through ecosystem restoration;
    4. control of invasive alien species and forest conservation.

 

The current pandemic calls for deep-set forces and scientific concepts of development for building a dynamic and modern economy. Green growth is one such concept that will add a new dimension to the economic dynamism and helps in maintaining paris agreement targets.