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Mar 13, 2022
PRISON REFORMS: SUPREME COURT ASKS JUSTICE AMITAVA ROY COMMITTEE TO SUBMIT FINAL REPORT IN 6 MONTHS
Recently, the Supreme Court granted six months' time to the Committee on Prison Reforms headed by the former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Amitava Roy to submit its final report.
History Of Prison in India
Highlights from the meeting include:
What is manual scavenging?
Pangolin
Indian Ocean Region
Key Findings
Mugger Crocodile
History Of Prison in India
- Macaulay's Minute of 1835 laid down the foundations of Prison system in India as we see it today. Subsequently, a committee called the Prison Discipline Committee was set up to look into the prison system in India. The Committee submitted its report in 1838 recommending the rigorous treatment of inmates rejecting humanitarian needs and reforms. This development has to been seen in the context of an imperialistic foreign rule.
- In the same period, the Construction of the Central Prisons began pursuant to Macaulay's Minute and advanced rapidly between 1836 and 1838. Contemporary Prisons in India are thus, a legacy of the British as they still stand continuing their nearly two-hundred-year-old function.
- The enactment of the Prison's Act in 1861 and 1894 mark yet another landmark event in the history of Prisons in India. This colonial law forms the basis for the present jail management and administration. The review of Prison problems that had preceded the Act was continued afterwards also.
- In 1919-1920 the Indian Jail Committee for the first time in India's colonial history declared reform and rehabilitation to be the objectives of Prison administration. This legacy was carried on by many post-independence committees.
- A key change that was introduced during colonial times was the vertical division of legislative and executive powers made by the Government of India Act, 1935.This law transferred the subject matter of "prisons" from Central list to State list.
- In 1957 An All-India Jail Manual Committee was appointed by the Government of India to prepare a Jail Manual which submitted its report in 1960. This forms the bedrock of Prison management in India until today.
- In 1972, the Union Home minister appointed a Working Group to make suggestion with respect to prison management in India. The Group made recommendations to frame a much-needed National Policy on Prisons and classification of Prisons lodging different categories of inmates.
- The Committee on Jail Reforms under Justice Mulla was set up by the Government of India in 1980 to review the laws, rules, regulations for protecting society and reforming offenders. The Mulla Committee submitted its report in 1983. The problems highlighted by the Committee and the reforms suggested by it are relevant even today and preponderate in any discourse on Prison reforms in India.
- It suggested that the Government is duty bound to provide dignified living Conditions for Prisoners and gave a humanitarian opinion vis a vis prison reforms that had hitherto been focusing more on security aspects.
- The Justice Krishna Iyer Committee of 1987 taking a similar stance highlighted the plight of women prisoners and emphasized the need to induct more women in the Police Services and management to inculcate a gender- sensitive approach in prison management.
- Later on, The National Police Commission made a recommendation in 1977 to overhaul the legislative framework by enacting a new Police Act to replace the two-hundred-year-old Police Act of the nineteenth century.
- The court had in September 2018 appointed the Justice Roy Committee to examine the various problems plaguing prisons, from overcrowding to lack of legal advice to convicts to issues of remission and parole.
- Today India is the second most populous country in the world. This is when the infrastructure of our prisons, the brick and mortar has served its time. It is needful to upgrade the existing prisons and set up new ones because the existing infrastructure is overflowing its capacity resulting in overcrowding.
- The saturation of prisons has been found to be over 100% in some of the prison establishments and in some extreme cases to the percentage of over 500% of the total capacity.
- This overcrowding aggravates the gross living conditions within jails leading to grave violations of inmates' human rights.
- The unsatisfactory living conditions affect every aspect of an inmate's daily existence such as food, cleanliness, etc.
- The prisoner already reeling under social stresses around this time is thrust forward into a battle with the tensions of jail life. As a result, the health, both mental and physical, of the prisoner suffers.
- The inadequacy of prison programs further aggravates this situation. The lack of proper legal aid and abuse of authority by the staff who sometimes take unfair advantage of the prisoner's dependency and make unwarranted demand in lieu of fulfilling basic needs of the prisoner such as food, even to the degree of demanding sexual favours.
- The staff also indulge in corruption and extortion, this more than often benefits the privileged inmates with powerful networks of criminals backing them.
- In concert with these corrupt staff, the powerful inmates enjoy all kinds of illegal luxuries whereas the poor are discriminated against because they do not have to their credit similar patronage. This highlights the discrimination between inmates in jail.
- The Mulla Committee had therefore stressed safeguarding the rights of the economically backward inmates with much emphasis. The staff that do not indulge in corruption face problems too due to inadequacy of human rights training.
- The kitchens are congested and unhygienic and the diet has remained unchanged for years now.
- Supreme Court has taken disparate approaches due to judicial subjectivism. However, the main philosophy that can be discerned from the judicial judgments is that: every saint has a past and sinner has a future.
- The Court has taken a reformative approach in many important judgments giving a boost to the discourse on prison reforms.
- In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration, the Court held that the Prison is not denuded of all human rights upon entering the prion premises even as his right to liberty is fundamentally curtailed. However, this must not ipso facto prejudice his other fundamental rights.
- In M H Hoskot v State of Maharashtra, it was held that the state is duty bound to ensure that the right to free legal aid under Article 39A is made available to the prisoner.
- There are around 1387 Prisons in India with a capacity of over 3.5 Lakh. However, the total inmates occupying these establishments account to the rune of 4.18 Lakh. Moreover, around 64% of the inmates in all the jails are undertrials.
- Therefore, the first challenge that arises from both human rights perspective and internal security point of view is the upgradation of infrastructure. Thus, can be done through improvement in budgetary allocations to the prison establishments.
- Secondly, prisons are a state subject, this creates difficulty in having uniform prison management. The Union can only frame models for the states to incorporate and help in coordinating between states, encouraging them to adopt best practices.
- Thirdly and most importantly, prisons do not have voting rights as per the present Election law in India. Therefore, prisoners are not a political constituency for the ruling class and hence, remain irrelevant politically.
- Unless these changes, it is in fact very difficult to imagine any reform will be forthcoming with tangible results. This is because the provisions of the Representation of People's Act excluding prisoners from the right to vote disincentive the political class from taking concrete action for prison reforms.
- Fourthly, the poor treatment meted out to prisoner's poses a very serious challenge internationally given that India's requests for extradition have on multiple occasions been declined due to the apprehension that once extradited, the offenders might be subjected to torture and inhumane treatment in Indian jails. This stalled the extradition of Neils Holck alias Kim Davey accused in the Purulia Arms Drop Case by the Netherlands Government.
- The Government of India must take corrective steps at home and beyond. This can be addressed by ratifying the Convention against Torture. India has been criticized for having lingered too long in fulfilling the ratification of the Convention.
- Finally, Key Judicial verdicts have broadly defined the contours of prisoner's human rights that must necessarily be ensured. These must be protected by checking systemic lapses and implementing the recommendations of the various committees set up the Government of India for the past decades.
- The recent case of Stan Swamy (2021) where he being a specially challenged and elderly inmate was not ensured the use of a sipper for drinking water warranted by peculiar conditions of health that did not permit him to hold a glass of water, the said inmate had to vindicate his rights only after approaching the court of law. This should not be necessary if the prison management makes sure that prisoner's basic needs are met especially where the inmate is undergoing special condition of health.
- The question of Children accompanying parents in jail lodgings because they have nobody else in the world to take care of them is a glaring example of human rights violation in jail premises.
- Children of a very tender age up to four or maximally six years of age learn and live within the jail premises in spite of being innocent and get acquainted with the law-and-order lexicon and most often learn to abuse and curse at a very young age. They never go out and there most nascent childhood is spent in the jail which become their earliest memories for a lifetime.
- Even where the children are taken outdoors to parks or playgrounds, they are carried in ambulances and police vans. This needs to be changed by allocating budget and also incorporating a child-sensitive approach in the policy and rules as a compulsory requirement.
- The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights lays special emphasis on the rights of prisoners. India ratified the convention in 1979and thus it is imperative to incorporate these standards into the municipal law.
- All people deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
- Accused persons shall, save in exceptional circumstances, be segregated from convicted persons and shall be subject to separate treatment appropriate to their status as Un convicted persons;
- Accused juvenile persons shall be separated from adults and brought as speedily as possible for adjudication.
- The penitentiary system shall comprise treatment of prisoners, the essential aim of which shall be their reformation and social rehabilitation. Juvenile offenders shall be segregated from adults and be accorded treatment appropriate to their age and legal status.
- Apart from the ICCPR, the ICESCR or the International Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural rights, 1966 also voices the rights of prisoners. This means that the international community not only recognizes first generation rights of prisoners but also the second-generation rights that are the main concern of the ICESCR. Both ICCPRC and ICESCR reflect the spirit of the Universal declaration of human rights or the UDHR, 1948.
- Since the Second World War, human rights have been quantified and set down in treaties and conventions. In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- The Basic Principles for Treatment of Prisoners 1990 of the UNO and Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, 1988 also strength the rights-oriented position vis a vis prisoner under international law.
- These particularly mandate that prisoners must be informed of the charges alleged against them, especially in cases of corporeal punishment. All persons under any form of detention or imprisonment shall be treated in a humane manner and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.
- Justice Amitava Roy (retd.) Committee concluded there should be at least one lawyer for every 30 prisoners. This is not the case now.
- Speedy trial remains one of the best ways to remedy the unwarranted phenomenon of over-crowding.
- The Prison Department has a perennial average of 30%-40% vacancies which should be filled.
- Another recommendation is for the use of video-conferencing for trial. Physical production in courts continued, which however remains far below the aspired 100% in several States, mainly because of unavailability of sufficient police guards for escort and transportation.
- The report described the preparation of food in kitchens as “primitive and arduous”.
- The courts have in recent years been giving serious thought to the of human rights of prisoners and have, on that ground, interfered with the exercise of powers of superintendents of jails in respect of measures for safe custody, good order and discipline.
- Research into crime and the criminal is still in its infancy. The immediate need of research is to evaluate the existing methods of treatment and to suggest new approaches to the prevention of crime. The value of probation, open prisons, parole and home leave as reformatory measures need to be established.
- Prisoners constitute important institutions which protect society from criminals. The obstacles in prison reforms are resource allocation, the deterrent functions of punishment, the notion of rehabilitation, and internal control.
Highlights from the meeting include:
- Bilateral trade in goods reaching US$ 6.29 billion registering a growth rate of 12% as compared to the previous year.
- Growth of two-way foreign direct investment and its contribution to deepening economic and trade ties.
- The need to expand bilateral trade through unlocking the potential across priority and emerging sectors both in goods and services.
- Commitment to strengthen trade and commercial ties through enhanced partnerships and cooperation in identified areas such as agro-products, chemicals, footwear, textiles, automobiles, energy, electronics, minerals and metals, urban development, information technology and tourism.
- The need for a comprehensive trade agreement between the two countries that would help in bolstering trade, investment and further strengthen the bilateral relationship, the Ministers agreed to formally re-launch the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations.
- Both sides agreed to consider an interim agreement or Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) that could be concluded early as a transitional step towards the CEPA.
- Canada and India agreed to promote and protect bilateral investment, including through the intensification of negotiations toward a Bilateral Investment Agreement, while considering options to achieve this goal alongside CEPA.
- India will consider to allow the import of pulses without penalty in case of fumigation on arrival by Methyl Bromide (MBr) until finalization of a systems approach for Canadian pulses.
- Canada also agreed to examine expeditiously the request for Conformity Verification Body (CVB) status to APEDA (Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority) for facilitating Indian organic export products.
- Pulses, sweet corn, baby corn, Canada, cherries and lumber market access was discussed
- Cooperation in the public health sector was discussed such as the supply of pharmaceutical products.
- Commitments to WTO practices were reaffirmed.
- COVID-19 testing regulations eased by Canada for Indian travellers was welcomed.
- In September 2008, the India-Canada CEO Round Table recommended that India and Canada would benefit enormously from CEPA by elimination of tariffs on a substantial majority of the bilateral trade.
- CEPA would cover trade in goods, trade in services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade and other areas of economic cooperation.
- A Joint Study was conducted and a report came in September 2010 strongly recommending the benefits of CEPA for both the countries.
- About Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA)
- An interim or an early progress trade agreement (EPTA) will include discussions on goods, services, rules of origin, sanitary, and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement.
- EPTA would be consistent with Article XXIV of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
- Both countries agreed to undertake intensified work with respect to the recognition of Canada’s systems approach to pest risk management in pulses and market access for Indian agriculture goods such as sweet corn, baby corn and banana etc.
- Reaffirming their commitment to the rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, open, and inclusive multilateral trading system embodied by the World Trade Organization.
- There is significant potential to strengthen science, technology and innovation collaboration between their research and business communities in support of a sustainable economic recovery and the prosperity and wellbeing of their citizens.
- The significant movement of professionals and skilled workers, students, and business travelers between the two countries, and its immense contribution to enhancing the bilateral economic partnership.
- It helps to way out to support the innovation ecosystem in both countries.
- It helps to enhance the potential for expanding cooperation between India and Canada in tourism, including sharing information and best practices on tourism (e.g., exchange programs), destination management, and interaction between tour operators and travel agents.
- Both sides can play a major role in cooperation in urban development and infrastructure including smart cities and physical infrastructure, especially water supply, sewerage, power and roads; skill development, transfer of technology and R&D in the construction sector.
- These reforms and initiatives taken by both countries to improve the business ecosystem and make it investor-friendly.
- It has recognised the need to expand bilateral trade through unlocking the potential across priority and emerging sectors both in goods and services.
- Canada and India have longstanding bilateral relations built upon shared traditions of democracy, pluralism and strong interpersonal connections.
- Canada is home to one of the largest communities of Indian origin, with approximately 4% of Canadians being of Indian heritage (1.4 million people).
- The deep cultural and political ties between Canada and India are strengthened by a growing network of official dialogues, agreements, memoranda of understanding and working groups. At the Ministerial level, Canada and India enjoy a strategic partnership underpinned by Ministerial Dialogues on:
- foreign policy
- trade and investment
- finance
- energy
- At the official level, there are regular working groups that focus on:
- counter-terrorism
- security
- agriculture
- education
- science and technology
- In India, Canada is represented by the High Commission of Canada in New Delhi. Canada also has Consulates General in Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Mumbai, as well as trade offices in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
- In addition, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has a significant presence in India; the High Commission in New Delhi is in fact home to Canada’s largest visa office abroad.
- A priority market for Canada, India is Canada’s 11th largest export market, and 12th largest trading partner overall. Canada’s commercial priorities in India are targeted at India’s policy objectives and sectors where Canada has a comparative advantage. These priorities include:
- supporting India’s energy security ambitions through increased exports of conventional and nuclear energy as well as clean and renewable energy technology;
- helping India meet its substantial urban and transportation infrastructure needs through provision of financing, equipment, technology and engineering services;
- enhanced education and skills training through greater collaboration between Canadian and Indian educational and technical skills institutions;
- commercial research and development to drive innovation in such sectors as information and communications technologies;
- increased exports of food products and fertilizers to support India’s food security needs.
- Canada and India are working toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement and a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA). Canada and India hold Ministerial Dialogues on trade and investment.
- Canada also has an advanced suite of bilateral agreements and MOUs with India that touch on commerce, including:
- Nuclear cooperation
- Double taxation
- Science and technology
- Agriculture
- Civil aviation
- Energy
- Rail
- Road transportation
- Education
- Information and communications technologies
- In 2019, India was the largest source of international students for Canada’s universities, colleges and schools.
- After 55 years of bilateral programming in India totaling $2.39 billion, Canada’s bilateral development assistance program came to an end in 2006 following a change in Indian government policy regarding aid.
- However, Global Affairs Canada continues to provide development assistance to India through Indian and Canadian Non-Governmental Organizations, and through multilateral mechanisms such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
- As of March 2021, Canada invested nearly $24 million in 2018-2019 to support 75 projects in India via Grand Challenges Canada. The main programming sector of the Partnerships for Development Innovation Branch is maternal, newborn and child health, which includes support to early childhood development.
- In 2016–2017, Canada contributed approximately $23.4 million to India through long-term institutional support to multilateral organizations. Canadian funding supports key organizations active in India including the Micronutrient Initiative, the United Nations Development Program, the United Nations Population Fund and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
- Key organizations supported by Canada that are active in India include Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the World Bank, the United Nations Population Fund, UNICEF, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, and Nutrition International.
- Key sectors supported in India by Global Affairs Canada through multilateral funding include: sustainable economic development, treatment of infectious diseases, and nutrition.
- IDRC continues to have an active presence in India with projects focusing on the links between climate change and migration; the reduction of violence against vulnerable populations; women’s rights, security and access to justice; economic opportunities for Indian workers, especially women; and improving food security. Since 1974, IDRC has programmed $143 million in India.
- To develop effective responses to today’s most pressing global challenges, Canada and India work closely in multilateral fora, such as:
-
- International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
- Pacific Alliance
- United Nations (UN)
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
- World Trade Organization (WTO)
- Canada is India’s 31st largest market, accounting for $3 billion or 0.88% of India’s total outbound shipments in April-January 2021-22. Imports from the North American nation stood at $2.5 billion during this period, making up 0.52% of India’s total inbound shipments. With imports worth $2.68 billion and exports worth $2.9 billion in 2020-21, India had a small trade surplus of nearly $200 million with Canada.
- New Delhi and Ottawa also agreed to work towards recognizing Canada’s systems approach to pest risk management in pulses. The two sides also discussed potential for strengthening cooperation in the health sector given that India is a reliable partner for Canada in supplying quality and affordable pharmaceuticals, particularly generic drugs.
What is manual scavenging?
- Manual scavenging is the practice of removing human excreta by hand from sewers or septic tanks. India banned the practice under the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 (PEMSR).
- According to the UN India, manual scavenging refers to the practice of manual cleaning, disposing, or handling of the human excreta, in any manner, from dry latrines and sewers.
- The Act bans the use of any individual for manually cleaning, carrying, disposing of or otherwise handling in any manner, human excreta till its disposal.
- In 2013, the definition of manual scavengers was also broadened to include people employed to clean septic tanks, ditches, or railway tracks. The Act recognizes manual scavenging as a “dehumanizing practice,” and cites a need to “correct the historical injustice and indignity suffered by the manual scavengers.”
- Manual scavengers are at risk of death from asphyxiation due to poisonous gases and are often exposed to diseases such as cholera, hepatitis, meningitis, jaundice, skin disorders and even cardiovascular diseases.
- Manual scavenging workers are exposed to the risk of getting infected with diseases like cholera, hepatitis, tuberculosis, typhoid, and many more.
- They often lack access to proper safety gear and equipment.
- Most of the deaths reported are due to accidents in septic tanks and sewer areas. A lack of precautions, such as taking lamps down in sewers with a large concentration of methane gas, is responsible for accidents
- Besides the septic and sewage cleaning in urban areas, there is a total lack of awareness about rural and semi-urban sanitation. These are the places with dry toilets, lack of sewage systems, explicit caste hierarchy – where manual scavenging flourishes brazenly, in its most malignant form.
- Due to the prevalence of the caste system in India, such harmful tasks are mostly done by those belonging to the lower rung of the caste hierarchy, the Dalits.
- The lack of enforcement of the Act and exploitation of unskilled labourers are the reasons why the practice is still prevalent in India. The Mumbai civic body charges anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 30,000 to clean septic tanks. The unskilled labourers, meanwhile, are much cheaper to hire and contractors illegally employ them at a daily wage of Rs 300-500.
- Some states, including Delhi, have launched the use of sewage cleaning machines for this purpose. However, they are not widely used across the country.
- Narrow lanes prevent access for larger machines while poorly designed septic tanks make it difficult for machines to function.
- Existing barriers like the problem of identification, absence of alternative economic opportunities, and stigmatization of the community for eliminating the manual scavenging from the country.
- Lack of required data on beneficiaries, high level of risks associated with self-employment, and the longer transition/waiting period after the upskilling are a few factors that have led to the scheme’s failure in bringing any required real change.
- Under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, India claims to have constructed approximately 1,000 lakh toilets since 2014, thereby providing approximately 95 per cent households with access to toilets.
- The constructed toilets are connected either to twin pit, septic tanks with soak pit, single pits or are connected to sewerage lines. National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey 2017-18 estimates that 13 per cent of the toilets constructed had twin pits, while 38 per cent were equipped with septic tanks with soak pits and 20 per cent had single pits.
- While the twin pit variety does not require human handling of fecal matter, the other two varieties require manual or mechanical extraction of fecal matter after a period of time.
- Given the abundance of septic tank with soak pit and single pit varieties of toilets and the low availability of suction pumps at the village level for mechanical extraction, it is obvious that most of these toilets in rural areas would be cleaned manually.
- Given the present policy climate which has relegated the scourge of manual scavenging to just an urban challenge, it is pertinent that the situation of rural sanitation be highlighted.
- While it is irrefutable that the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has made unprecedented and positive behavioral and infrastructural changes with regard to the usage of toilets, we need more effort and time to substantially reduce manual scavenging. Perhaps, at a policy level, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has addressed the issue of access to toilets, ignoring those cleaning them.
- Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had published a notice informing residents that cesspool vehicles and CP lorries will be available in each of Mumbai’s 24 wards for the cleaning of septic tanks in public or private premises.
- Many NGOs are also working to educate and train workers for other vocations, so that they are not forced to work as manual scavengers.
- Indian railway has installed 258,906 bio-vacuum toilets in all the long-distance travelling trains, which is not only helping save 400 crores of the additional maintenance cost.
- The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavenger and their Rehabilitation Act,2013: The act aims to strengthen the prohibition of manual scavenging in all forms and to ensure that manual scavengers are rehabilitated.
- Prevention of Atrocities Act: It delineates specific crimes against the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
- National Commission of Safai Karamcharis: The Commission is a non-statutory body of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
- Mission Swachh Bharat: Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) is a nationwide initiative initiated by the government on October 2, 2014, to clean the country's streets, roads, and social infrastructure.
- The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation (Amendment) Bill, 2020: It proposes that sewer cleaning be completely mechanized, that methods for 'on-site' protection be implemented, and that manual scavengers be compensated in the case of sewer deaths.
- The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, will be amended.
- Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched it on World Toilet Day (19 November) in 2020.
- The government issued a "challenge" to all states to mechanize sewer cleaning by April 2021; if a human needs to enter a sewer line in an unavoidable emergency, proper gear and oxygen tanks etc to be provided.
- Swachhta Abhiyan App: It was developed to locate and geotag data on insanitary latrines and manual scavengers so that unsanitary latrines can be replaced with sanitary latrines and all manual scavengers can be rehabilitated so that they can live with dignity.
- SC Decision: A Supreme Court judgment in 2014 mandated that the government identify all people who died in sewage work since 1993 and compensate their families with Rs. 10 lakh each.
- In addition to bringing the required changes in railways, the government should also construct more eco-friendly toilets.
- Models like Namma Toilets, which is the brainchild of Tamil Nadu Municipal Corporation, and other eco-friendly models that have been developed in countries like South Africa should be promoted through information sharing and assistance under SBM.
- By focusing on universal design and efficient water technology, these models provide the option of scalability as well. Thus, allowing easy adoption in rural and urban areas.
- For increasing the alternative employment opportunities for manual scavengers, the Self Employment Scheme for Liberation and Rehabilitation of Scavengers (SRMS) was brought in.
- Employing all the identified scavengers in tasks related to Swachh Bharat Mission immediately after their identification could help them transition faster. Manual scavengers can be employed in building toilets, waste management, and cleanliness drive under SBM.
- Since the Swach Survekshan ranks cities and villages based on their performance, including the mechanisation of the manual cleaning process as part of the evaluation matrix could provide additional motivation for the local bodies to eradicate the practice from their areas.
- The MNREGA and other social security schemes could be linked with the Scavenging Act of 2013. An amendment could be brought to link the Scavengers Act of 2013 to link with MGNREGA social security laws like Unorganized Sector workers’ Social Security Act, 2008.
- Proper surveys for data collection and skilling programmes for rehabilitation.
- Fixing accountability of officials – district collectors, police officials, municipal officials
- Strict punishment for digressions.
- Social security provisions like better healthcare facilities, insurance cover, pension plans for sanitation workers.
- Payment of workers should be at par with semi-skilled workers with additional hazard pay depending on the risk involved.
- Ensure good quality education to children of manual scavengers to enable them to avail alternative livelihood options
- Immediate compensation for the families of those who lose their lives in this work. A proper mechanism for providing legal help in cases of death and legal redressal.
- The unregularized ‘Contractual employment system’ for allotting sanitation works needs to be reassessed. Along with that formation of trade unions, self-help groups, co-operatives, and pressure groups to educate and empower sanitation workers.
- Most important is enlarging the scope of the definition of sanitation workers rather than manual scavengers.
Pangolin
- These solitary, primarily nocturnal animals, are easily recognized for their full armour of scales.
- A startled pangolin will cover its head with its front legs, exposing its scales to any potential predator. If touched or grabbed it will roll up completely into a ball, while the sharp scales on the tail can be used to lash out.
- Also called scaly anteaters because of their preferred diet, pangolins are the most trafficked mammal in the world—with demand primarily in Asia and in growing amounts in Africa—for their meat and scales.
- There is also demand in the United States for pangolin products, particularly for their leather to be used in boots, bags, and belts.
- Eight species of pangolins are found on two continents. They range from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered.
- Four species live in Africa:
- Black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla),
- White-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis),
- Giant Ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) and
- Temminck's Ground pangolin (Smutsia temminckii).
- The four species found in Asia:
- Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata),
- Philippine pangolin (Manis culionensis),
- Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica) and the
- Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla).
- All eight pangolin species are protected under national and international laws, and two are listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
- The Indian Pangolin is found throughout the country south of the Himalayas, excluding the north-eastern region while the Chinese Pangolin ranges through Assam and the eastern Himalayas.
- In June 2020, China increased protection for the native Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) to the highest level, which closed an important loophole for consumption of the species in-country.
- Additionally, the government will no longer allow the use of pangolin scales in traditional medicine, a big win given that an estimated 195,000 pangolins were trafficked in 2019 for their scales alone.
- Pangolins are threatened by poaching (for their meat and scales, which are used in traditional medicine and heavy deforestation of their natural habitats, and they are the most trafficked mammals in the world.
- The situation of all pangolin species remains grim due to the multi-million-dollar illegal trade in their meat and scales, prized in East and Southeast Asian nations.
- Encroachment of wildlife habitats for farmlands and unrestrained logging is creating additional pressure on pangolin populations.
- The reproductive cycle of pangolins is extremely slow. For conservationists and researchers, monitoring and observing pangolins is a challenging task.
- There is also a lack of information on pangolin’s ecological behaviour including habitat preferences, home-range, average life-span, reproduction-cycle and feeding habits.
- Regularly monitoring the population trends of pangolin in their habitat areas is important. It will yield two benefits:
- First, it enables government and conservation institutions to make informed decisions about protecting the species.
- Second, it helps in facilitating the identification and prioritisation of key sites for holistic conservation.
- Involving communities living around pangolin’s habitat areas could effectively steer conservation campaigns. There are several examples where hunters have turned into die-hard conservationists.
- Promoting community-stewardship is key.
- Providing alternative livelihood options to the forest-dependent community could be a life-saving blessing for pangolins and other endangered species.
- Bee-farming, pisciculture, piggery and orchard development, are few viable income-generating opportunities that should be provided to local communities.
- Eradicating widespread corruption is imperative.
- We need to crack down on the clandestine network of wildlife traffickers. Ther is need to work collectively and reinforce law enforcement on ground.
- Valmiki Tiger Reserve forms the eastern most limit of the Himalayan Terai forests in India, and is the only tiger reserve of Bihar.
- Situated in the Gangetic Plains bio-geographic zone of the country, the forest has a combination of bhabar and terai tracts.
- Valmiki Tiger Reserve lies in the north-westernmost West Champaran district of Bihar. The name of the district has been derived from two words Champa and Aranya meaning Forest of Champa trees.
- Older alluvium with sandy soil with variegated clay and loose boulder deposits and artesian flows; lateritic formations on higher contours and newer Alluvium on southern parts with reissuing springs akin to artesian flows.
- River Gandak forms the western boundary of Valmiki wildlife sanctuary. It enters in India at Valmikinagar, where two rivulets Sonha and Pachnad joins it, forming a holy confluence ‘Triveni’.
- The river is called ‘Narayani’ in Nepal. Harha – Masan River system originates from the Valmiki Forests and forms Burhi Gandak River down south.
- River Pandai flows into Bihar (India) from Nepal in the eastern end of the Sanctuary and meets Masan.
- All these rivers with their precursor and tributaries namely Rohua, Kotrahia, Manor, Bhapsa, Koshil, Singha, Dhonghi, Ganguli, Dhoram are full of youth and verve.
- Their cascades in wanton and wayward playfulness while descending from hills ridges and gorges are enchanting. Meeting the planes, they slowly mature to serene grandeur.
- Wild mammals found in the forests of Valmiki Tiger Reserve are Tiger, Sloth bear, Leopard, Wild dog, Bison, Wild boar etc. Several species of deer and antelopes viz barking deer, spotted deer, hog deer, sambar and blue bull are also found here.
- In Madanpur forest block large number of Indian flying foxes can be sighted. The Reserve has rich avi-fauna diversity. Over 250 species of birds have been reported.
Indian Ocean Region
- The IOR broadly defines areas consisting of littoral states of the Indian Ocean. Marked by a glaring cultural, social, political and economic diversity, IOR comprises a number of sub-regions, such as Australia, South East Asia, South Asia, Horn of Africa and the Southern and Eastern Africa.
- The IOR littorals house more than one-third of world’s population. In addition, more than half of the global seaborne trade and commerce passes through the Indian Ocean out of which, almost 70 per cent goes to countries external to the region.
- The IOR littoral states are rich in producing various raw materials, primarily oil, which are key to development of major manufacturing industries of developed as well as developing nations.
- Complementary to this is the enormous seabed resources possessed by IOR comprising oil and natural gas reserves, minerals and abundance of fishes.
- The presence of major maritime choke points and Sea Lanes of Communications (SLOCs) in the IOR lends it a strategic importance of gigantic magnitude.
- India’s central position in the IOR gives her an immense advantage and at the same time presents far greater challenges. Looking through the prism of optimism, however, a pragmatic maritime approach could well convert these challenges into opportunities which would help India achieve her quest for becoming a global power.
- India has a coastline of over 7500 km, a total of over 1200 Islands and about two million square km of EEZ. Nearly 80 per cent of India’s crude oil requirement is imported, which are mostly routed through the sea.
- Taking into account the total oil imports by sea, offshore oil production and petroleum exports, the country’s cumulative ‘sea dependence’ for oil is estimated to be about 93 per cent.
- Today, almost 95 per cent of India’s trade by volume and 68 per cent of trade by value are routed via the Indian Ocean. Any impediment to flow of commercial traffic would have disastrous ramifications on her economic objectives.
- Secondly, India depends heavily on Indian Ocean resources with her fishing and aquaculture industries being a major source of export as well as providing employment to more than 14 million people.
- Militarily, the presence of such long coastline makes India vulnerable to potential threats emerging from the sea. One of the worst terrorist attacks on India in recent memory – the 2008 Mumbai attack – was perpetrated by terrorists arriving by sea.
- The presence of non-traditional threats like piracy, smuggling, illegal fishing and human trafficking also presents major challenges and hence, a secure Indian Ocean is key to securing India’s national interests.
- The CSC, which was formed in 2011 as a trilateral maritime security grouping of India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, is expanding.
- It welcomed Mauritius as a fourth member. Bangladesh and Seychelles attended as observers, and have been invited to join the group.
- The Delhi-driven “minilateral” is being seen as India’s outreach to the Indian Ocean to underline regional co-operation and shared security objectives.
- In this way, the CSC hopes to restrict China’s influence in an area of strategic importance, and to reduce the Chinese footprint in the member countries, including the new and proposed additions.
- It has brought the multi-national regional arrangement this far, with a critical name-change from ‘Maritime Security Agreement’ to ‘Maritime and Security Agreement’.
- Before CSC, given the complexities of regional equations, India as the inevitable centrifugal force in the neighbourhood Indian Ocean Region (IOR) had kept strategic and security relations bilateral.
- It had begun with the India-Maldives bi-annual ‘Dosti’ Coast Guard exercises following the footsteps of India’s ‘Operation Cactus’ military intervention—at invitation—to end the mercenary-led coup-bid against Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in 1988.
- The continuing ethnic war in Sri Lanka delayed the nation’s induction, and the CSC now has expanded the scope beyond non-traditional security; however, carefully keeping conventional security issues and cooperation, like a regional defence cooperation pact, at arm’s length.
- A real beginning was made—outside India—when ahead of the 2005 indicated the Sri Lankan consensus centred on emerging geostrategic realities and the need for the nation to keep away from Cold War era-like blocs and thus keep extra-regional powers off its waters and beyond.
- Yet, in the prevailing circumstances, Colombo was not unwilling for a ‘defence cooperation agreement’ with the larger Indian neighbour, but again the ethnic war was the undoing till its end in 2009.
- Indian concerns were centred on Sri Lanka choosing China for development funding, especially on the southern Hambantota port, which anyway was offered to India by successive governments in Colombo.
- CSC was not an India-forced decision. If anything, what was a unilateral Sri Lankan consensus evolved into a bilateral consensus involving a common neighbour—the Maldives, on the same line and logic.
- The intervening Indian involvement in providing rescue and rehabilitation assistance in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Maldives and Sri Lanka, prioritising them over India’s own losses, and withdrawing the Indian troops as fast as they came, created trust in New Delhi and also erased suspicions that it was angling for a permanent military presence/base as some had thought the Indian Peace Keeping Forces (IPKF) to be.
- India has always rushed help to Bangladesh after destructive cyclonic storms that are periodic, and the ‘Himalayan earthquake’ in Nepal that was devastating. However, they were all bilateral arrangements.
- ‘India’s pond’ began with creating a separate IOR Division, focusing on near-neighbours, the Maldives and Sri Lanka, and then adding Mauritius and Seychelles to the list.
- In 2019, Comoros, Madagascar, and French Réunion Island, forming the ‘mouth’ of the Indian Ocean, along with Mauritius and Seychelles, were included to the portfolio of the IOR division.
- Yet, unlike the US-led Quad, better still AUKUS, the CSC will remain a regional initiative for regional good, with limited scope and goals, as is to be defined by the commonly-agreed Charter and roadmap.
- If an expansion of either the membership or the agenda is required, it would be achieved only through the consensus process involving sovereign nations.
- Member nations, starting with India, the largest one in the grouping, are well aware of the limitations and also the possibility of a total collapse if any or many of them went outside the scope of the fixed agenda.
- The stupendous growth in the military might of China over last three decades and her recently acquired penchant for power projection much beyond its territorial boundaries, has emerged as the greatest challenge for the IOR. The ever-increasing naval assets of PLAN, mostly indigenous, has a well thought out purpose.
- The complete disregard to International Maritime Laws displayed by China in her handling of South China Sea (SCS) and the inability of the major global powers to coerce China on the issue, doesn’t auger well for the IOR in general and India in particular, in the foreseeable future.
- The hidden military agenda encapsulated in the ‘String of Pearls’ and ‘21st century Maritime Silk Route (MSR)’, is glaringly apparent and stands out as the biggest strategic challenge facing India.
- Pakistan has embarked upon a rapid modernisation process with thrust on Undersea Warfare. Garnering assistance from Turkey and her all-weather friend China. The activation of Gwadar port, to allow perennial PLAN presence, in the very near future would open up new avenues of threat in India’s backyard.
- The challenges from non-state forces include piracy, maritime terrorism, drug trafficking, illicit weapons trafficking, illegal migrants, poaching etc. as well as, vagaries of climate change fall within the ambit of non-traditional threat spectrum of conflict.
- The frequency of resurgence and occurrence of such threats are very high and hence require immediate attention. Response prioritisation and asset allocation shift in favour of such non-traditional challenges, thus necessitating maintenance of a pragmatic balance vis-à-vis conventional threats.
- Apart from shared concerns in an ever-changing post-Cold War geostrategic scenario, smaller nations, both in the IOR and elsewhere find themselves helpless and hapless in addressing the demands on their resources.
- It is here that the involvement of the Indian neighbour with a huge stake in the security of the region as a whole is being mis-interpreted by the political opposition identified with former President Abdulla Yameen, who has launched an ‘India Out’ campaign, with particular reference to the Indian military presence.
- Similar anti-India sentiments used to be flagged in nations like Bangladesh which does not have a popular heir-apparent or even adversary, making ‘leadership vacuum’ a real possibility in the future.
- Geopolitically India is a reliable partner in the Indian Ocean Region and can take on the role of being the net security provider in the region.
- Noting that air power has and would continue to play a critical role in maintaining regional stability and peace in the region, freedom of manoeuvre provided by air and space capabilities enables the nation to influence in a sustainable and clearly escalable manner.
- Countries in IOR need to strengthen our mutual understanding and existing security frameworks based on the principles of Cooperation, Collaboration and Coexistence.
- India needs to formulate and adhere to a coherent IOR strategy involving complementary intents and actions in dealing with IOR nations rather than piecemeal strategy on stand-alone basis with each IOR nation. This would help her in exerting positive influence over these nations and help the smaller nations overcome any potential inhibition towards gauging India through the prism of ‘Big Brother’ syndrome.
- Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and naval exercise MILAN have been a few welcome steps by India in manifesting a coherent strategic intent. This has been further augmented by initiatives like Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR), project MAUSAM and the proposed Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, as well as increased participation of Indian Navy in bilateral / multilateral naval exercises and CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) with Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
- India has also been supplying naval assets to countries like Mauritius, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Seychelles. These steps need to be actively pursued with an incremental thrust to make these nations self-sufficient in terms of security.
- The ‘Make in India’ initiative, coupled with a revised DPP- 2016, has breathed fresh air to otherwise gloomy acquisition process. Further, the enhancement of foreign direct investment (FDI) limits in defence has opened up yet another avenue to bolster indigenisation by facilitating foreign participation in defence manufacturing. These optimistic steps need to be supplemented by incentivising the participation of industries and other Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).
- In addition, matching technology upgradation needs to be carried out in all military dimensions, including cyber and space domains.
- The role of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in development of Rukmini, the first military communication satellite for the Indian defence forces, with the Indian Navy being the primary user, and Independent Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is nothing short of an outstanding achievement.
- Defence Indegenisation needs to be augmented by achieving Transfer of Technology (ToT) agreements with other advanced navies to progress the capability development. India should leverage its strategic partnership, primarily with countries like US and Japan, to achieve these ToT.
- Indian core values of mutual respect and peaceful co-existence generate immense goodwill and inspire confidence in the entire IOR. The smaller nations of the IOR have recognised the genuine intent of Indian Navy in ensuring freedom of navigation and use of global waters as per existing International Laws.
- However, this intent needs to be firmly backed by a matching capability and a clearly spelt out strategy. In the absence of the same, it would be a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ India would find itself struggling to secure its own maritime (and in turn, national) interests.
Key Findings
- Anti-dumping duties were imposed on ceramic tableware and kitchenware from China, provisionally in 2017 followed by final determination in 2018, after following due multilateral process. The total duration of the duties was five years, till 2022.
- The government will impose ADD of $1075 per metric tonne (mt) on ceramic tableware and kitchenware not only originating from China but also from Malaysia.
- Imposing ADD on items originating from Malaysia follows final findings of an anti-circumvention investigation that established that the items being produced in China were just “incrementally” being processed in Malaysia and then being exported to India, declared as originating in Malaysia to avoid payment of anti-dumping duty.
- An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff that a domestic government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair market value.
- Dumping is a process wherein a company exports a product at a price that is significantly lower than the price it normally charges in its home (or its domestic) market.
- In order to protect their respective economy, many countries impose duties on products they believe are being dumped in their national market; this is done with the rationale that these products have the potential to undercut local businesses and the local economy.
- It could lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping and injury to the domestic industry.
- In the long-term, anti-dumping duties can reduce the international competition of domestic companies producing similar goods.
- The intention of anti-dumping duties is to save domestic jobs, these tariffs can also lead to higher prices for domestic consumers.
- The World Trade Organization (WTO) plays a critical role in the regulation of anti-dumping measures. As an international organization, the WTO does not regulate firms accused of engaging in dumping activities, but it possesses the power to regulate how governments react to dumping activities in their territories.
- Some government sometimes react harshly to foreign companies engaging in dumping activities by introducing punitive anti-dumping duties on foreign imports, and the WTO may come in to determine if the actions are genuine, or if they go against the WTO free-market principle.
- According to the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, dumping is legal unless it threatens to cause material injury in the importing country domestic market. Also, the organization prohibits dumping when the action causes material retardation in the domestic market.
- Where dumping occurs, the WTO allows the government of the affected country to take legal action against the dumping country as long as there is evidence of genuine material injury to industries in the domestic market.
- The government must show that dumping took place, the extent of the dumping in terms of costs, and the injury or threat to cause injury to the domestic market.
- The WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement allows governments to act in a way that does not discriminate between trading partners and honours the DATT 1994 principle when calculating the duty.
- The GATT 1994 principle provides a number of guidelines to govern trade between members of the WTO. It requires that imported goods not to be subjected to internal taxes in excess of the costs imposed on domestic goods.
- Also, it requires that imported goods be treated the same way as domestic goods under domestic laws and regulations. However, it allows the government to impose a duty on foreign imports if they exceed the bound rates and threaten to cause injury to the domestic market.
- There are several ways of determining whether an imported product has been dumped lightly or heavily, and the amount of duty to be applied.
- The first method is to calculate the anti-dumping duty based on the normal price of the product.
- The second alternative is to use the price charged on the same product but in a different country.
- The last alternative is to calculate the duty based on the total product costs, expenses, and the manufacturer’s profit margins.
- Countervailing Duties (CVDs) are tariffs levied on imported goods to offset subsidies made to producers of these goods in the exporting country.
- CVDs are meant to level the playing field between domestic producers of a product and foreign producers of the same product who can afford to sell it at a lower price because of the subsidy they receive from their government.
- CVDs help offset any negative domestic impacts that producers of the same good might experience due to foreign competition, who in this case, would receive a subsidy to export the same good.
- The WTO only permits countervailing duties to be charged after the importing nation has conducted an in-depth investigation into the subsidized exports.
- CVDs are special measures meant to neutralize the negative effects that subsidies of the production of a good in one country have on that same industry in another country, in which the production of that good is not subsidized.
- If left unchecked, such subsidized imports can have a severe effect on the domestic industry, forcing factory closures and causing huge job losses.
- As export subsidies are considered to be an unfair trade practice, the World Trade Organization (WTO)–which deals with the global rules of trade between nations–has detailed procedures in place to establish the circumstances under which countervailing duties can be imposed by an importing nation.
- The WTO’s “Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures,” which is contained in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) 1994, defines when and how an export subsidy can be used and regulates the measures that member nations can take to offset the effect of such subsidies.
- These measures include the affected nation using the WTO’s dispute settlement procedure to seek withdrawal of the subsidy, or imposing countervailing duties on subsidized imports that are hurting domestic producers.
Mugger Crocodile
- Restricted to the Indian subcontinent, Mugger or Marsh crocodiles are generally found in freshwater habitats including lakes, marshes and rivers.
- They may also be found in coastal saltwater lagoons and estuaries.
- They are an egg-laying and hole-nesting species.
- It preys on fish, reptiles, birds and mammals.
- This species of crocodile is already extinct in Myanmar and Bhutan.
- Protection Status
- IUCN Red List: Vulnerable
- CITES: Appendix I
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
- This crocodile does not migrate seasonally, inhabiting the same locale in wet seasons or dry seasons. This species makes burrows on land in a wide variety of habitats.
- It has the widest snout among all crocodile species.
- The crocodiles are poikilothermic reptiles and they need to alter their internal temperature by basking.
- Mugger crocodiles dig burrows to help maintain and protect them from ambient temperature changes.
- Mugger crocodiles perform a role in maintaining the structure and function of fresh water ecosystems because they are a top predator and keystone species affecting all of the animals below them in the food chain.
- The only recorded species of parasites that have inhabited the mugger crocodile are the tongueworms Subtriquetra megacephala and Subtriquetra shipleyi.
- The main cause of their vulnerable status is habitat destruction, fragmentation, and transformation, fishing activities and use of crocodile parts for medicinal purposes.
- Crocodylus palustris is killed for its skin to make leather products.
- Their bones and scales are fabled to have medicinal properties that the older generation still uses. Poachers also steal eggs of the species to sell on the black market.
- Other principal threats to the Mugger were previously identified as habitat destruction and fragmentation, drowning in fishing nets.
- Anthropogenic activities polluting water bodies is also life-threatening issue for crocodiles.
- The saltwater is the largest of the 23 species of ‘extant’ or living crocodilians. This includes ‘true crocodiles’, alligators and caimans.
- The ‘saltie’ is today found in three locations in India — the Sundarbans, Bhitarkanika National Park and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- It is one of the three crocodilians native to the Indian Subcontinent, along with the mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) and the gharial (Gavialis gangeticus).
- It is also found in Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Solomon Islands.
- The estuarine crocodile is infamous globally as a known maneater.
- Illegal hunting, habitat loss, and antipathy toward the species because of its reputation as a man-eater continue to put pressure on the population.
- The saltie is also called the ‘estuarine crocodile’ and as the name suggests, is typically found in the brackish water of estuaries. It can also tolerate saltwater in the oceans and can travel long distances over the open ocean, making use of tidal currents.
- During antiquity the species’ range extended from the Seychelles and Kerala, India in the west through to south-eastern China, Palau and Vanuatu in the east. Today, the species is extinct in many of these areas, as well as from most of mainland Southeast Asia.
- IUCN List of Threatened Species: Least Concern
- CITES: Appendix I (except the populations of Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, which are included in Appendix II).
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
- They have long and thin snouts which resemble an earthen pot and thus, are called gharial.
- It currently inhabits rivers in the plains of the northern part of the Indian subcontinent.
- The Chambal River in the northern slopes of the Vindhya mountains is known as the primary habitat of gharials.
- The main causes of decline in population include illegal sand mining, poaching, habitat destruction, floods and massive scale fishing operations.
- Protection Status
-
- IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered
- CITES: Appendix I
- Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
- The Kala Talab (‘black pool’) is connected via a canal to the Chambal River. It is rich in aquatic life including mugger crocodiles.
- There are 150 crocodiles in the pond and many types of fish.
- Because of filling up of these local waterbodies, ground water cannot get recharged and despite being on the banks of the Chambal, people here have to depend on water tankers throughout the year.
- Its water gets polluted due to an area filled with fly ash and soil to build residential colonies.
POSTED ON 13-03-2022 BY ADMIN
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General Studies
Political Science and International Relations
Some Reference Essays
List of previous year essay topics (1997-2019)
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