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Mar 24, 2022
NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR DAIRY DEVELOPMENT
Under the National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) scheme, so far, 12.26 lakh farmer-members have been brought under the ambit of dairy cooperative network.
What is the Current State of the Dairy and Livestock Sector?
About Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Light Emitting Diode (LED) for All (UJALA)
What is a Hypersonic Missile?
About Blue Economy
Findings of Minamata Convention (COP-4)
About Urban Agriculture in India
Genesis:
What is the Current State of the Dairy and Livestock Sector?
- Dairy is the single-largest Agri commodity in India. It contributes 5% to the national economy and employs 80 million dairy farmers directly.
- A revival in economic activities, increasing per capita consumption of milk and milk products, changing dietary preferences and rising urbanisation in India, has driven the dairy industry to grow by 9-11% in 2021-22.
- The livestock sector has grown at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.15% over the last five years ending 2020.
- Growth in the liquid milk segment, which accounts for over half of the dairy industry, is likely to remain stable (6-7%).
- The organised dairy segment, which accounts for 26-30% of industry (by value), has seen faster growth, compared to the unorganised segment.
- The National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) scheme was launched by the Government of India.
- The NPDD scheme is designed to provide technical and financial assistance for the dairy development and thereby creating any infrastructure related to the processing, production, marketing and procurement by the milk federation/unions while extending their activities by providing training facilities to the farmers.
- This scheme is implemented with the view to dairying activities in a scientific and holistic manner and integrate milk production so as to attain higher levels of milk production and its productivity, ultimately to meet the increasing demand for milk in the country.
- Dairying and its other activities have become a very important secondary source of income for millions of rural families and have the most important role in providing income-generating opportunities and employment opportunities particularly for marginal and women farmers as most of the milk that is produced by animals reared by small, marginal farmers and landless labours.
- The NPDD scheme aims to enhance the quality of milk and milk products and increase share of organized milk procurement.
- The scheme has two components:
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- Component 'A' focuses towards creating/strengthening of infrastructure for quality milk testing equipment as well as primary chilling facilities for State Cooperative Dairy Federations/ District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union/SHG run private dairy/Milk Producer Companies/Farmer Producer Organisations. The scheme will be implemented across the country for a period of five years from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
- Component 'B' (Dairying Through Cooperatives) provides financial assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as per project agreement already signed with them.
- It is an externally aided project, envisaged to be implemented during the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 on pilot basis in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar initially with the objective of creation of necessary dairy infrastructure for the purpose of providing market linkages for the produce in villages and for strengthening of capacity building of stake-holding institutions from village to State level.
- National Programme for Dairy Development (NPDD) will be implemented throughout the country from 2O2l-22 to 2O25-26 and will continue till 2027-28.
- The committed liabilities of ongoing NPDD scheme approved till 31.03.2021 shall be met under the revised scheme during first two years i.e., 2O21-22 & 2022-23 as per administrative approval issued at the time of approval of respective projects.
- Further, the committed liability to be created under above sub-schemes during the implementation period from 2O2I-22 to 2025-26, will be met through budgetary support during next two years i.e., 2026-27 &2027-28.
- To create and strengthen infrastructure for quality milk including cold chain infrastructure linking the farmer to the consumer;
- To provide training to dairy farmers for clean milk production; To create awareness on Quality & Clean Milk Production;
- To support research and development on Quality milk and milk products
- To strengthen and create the necessary infrastructure for the production of quality milk including the creation and development of cold chain infrastructure that will enhance the linkage between the farmers and their consumers.
- To strengthen and create the infrastructure required for the production, procurement, marketing and processing of milk.
- To create appropriate training infrastructure and facilities for the training of dairy farmers.
- To strengthen the dairy Producer Companies/cooperative societies at the village level
- To increase the production of milk by providing the most needed technical input services like mineral mixture and cattle feed, etc; to assist the rehabilitation potential and viable milk unions/federations.
- National Dairy Plan Phase-I (NDP-I) will cover the case of States (i.e, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh).
- Implementation of NPBBDD will be done throughout the country.
- Central governmental assistance will be provided for the project and will be restricted to a total of Rs.15 crores per District.
- Any form of assistance provided for the “technical input services” will be subject to a ceiling of 15% of its project cost.
- For milk powder plants, the central grant per district will be limited to an amount of Rs.5 crores per district.
- The central grant for the establishment of milk powder plants will be limited to dairy cooperatives only.
- For the establishment/up gradation of milk powder plant of 30 metric tonnes capacity, surplus milk from milk shed that covers a cluster of districts may be pooled together to ensure the economic viability of the milk powder plant.
- Any assistance for the cattle induction shall be allowed only for BPL families, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.
- The subsidy for Cattle Induction will be restricted to a total of 50% in all cases except for the women farmers.
- The Cost of calculating the subsidy shall include: cost of cattle, animal insurance and transportation cost.
- The Cattle Induction will be subjected to a maximum ceiling of 10% of the total project cost.
- The assistance of manpower and skill development will be provided for setting up and/or upgrading a Training Centre for skill development. The total assistance under this component shall not be more than Rs.75 lakh or 5% of the total project cost, whichever is lower.
- The detailed Planning and Monitoring will be limited to 5% of the project cost.
- The subsidy element for cattle induction will have a maximum ceiling of 75% cost for women milk producers.
- Necessary assistance for Information and Communication Technology networking shall be subject to a maximum ceiling of 10% of the project cost.
- Any assistance for Working Capital shall be restricted to the total value of “21 days milk procurement”, as projected in the terminal year of the Project.
- The rehabilitation assistance as the central grant will be restricted to a ceiling of Rs.5 Crores.
- Doorstep Veterinary Emergence and Health Services at MPCS around 18 Lakh Artificial Insemination (AI) are done per year.
- Cattle feed subsidy Rs.2-4/kg given (will be revised every month according to current market rates)
- The Mineral mixture is supplied to the milk producers at a subsidy of Rs.25 per Kg.
- Periodical animal health camps are conducted in villages for mass deworming and to treat infertility cases in almost all district milk unions.
- Green fodder and fodder slips are provided to milk producers through fodder cultivation in union land.
- FMD vaccinations carried out twice every year in coordination with the Animal Husbandry Department, covering around 17 lakh animals under cooperative ambit in Tamil Nadu.
- Regular training is given to milk producers and village level workers in training centres.
- The profits earned by the district unions are shared with the milk producers by giving incentive which ranges from 60 paise per litre to Rs.1.60 per litre.
- Whenever the society earns any sort of profit, 50% of profit is ‘ploughed back’ to the milk produced as mentioned in the by-laws of the Milk Producers Cooperative Societies.
- Bulk Milk Cooler (BMC) is installed, when necessary, as per the request of the producers and the budgeting done under this scheme.
- The Dairy Cooperatives of India commissioned a large number of dairy processing plants during the Operation Flood that lasted till 1996.
- Up until now, most of these plants have never been re-developed or expanded after that. With operations continuing with old and obsolete technologies in these plants, the scope to improve efficiency and increase production is hard to achieve.
- Therefore, the Government of India announced the Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) under the NABARD with an estimated budget of INR 8,00 through the Union Budget 2017-18. This article talks about the important aspects and essentials of the DIDF.
- To modernise the milk processing plants and their machinery.
- To create additional infrastructures that specifically cater to the goal of processing more milk.
- To increase the overall milk processing capacity, that in turn, will increase the value addition, and by increasing the production of dairy products.
- To increase efficiency in dairy processing plants and producers that are owned and controlled by dairy institutions. Hence, enabling the optimum value of milk to milk producing farmers and increasing the supply of quality milk to consumers.
- To help the producer-owned-and-controlled institutions increase their share of milk production, thereby offering more significant opportunities of ownership, management and access to markets, to rural milk producers in the organised milk market.
- To assist the producer-owned-and-controlled institutions to have a stronghold in the organised milk market, strive as a dominant player, and to make increased Price Realisation to milk producers.
- Modernisation and creation of new milk processing facilities.
- Re-development and establishment of new manufacturing facilities for Value-Added Products.
- Infrastructure to maintain milk and other products at various optimum temperatures.
- Setting up of electronic milk testing equipment.
- Any other activities, decided by the Government of India in consultation with the relevant stakeholders, concerning the dairy sector and aims to contribute to the current objectives of the DIDF.
- The scheme follows a funding support pattern which will be in the form of an interest-bearing loan.
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- Loan Component: Maximum of 80%
- End-borrower’s component: Minimum of 20%
- The tenure of the loan would be a maximum of 10 years from the date of the first release of funds. This would include the Moratorium Period of a maximum of 2 years on the repayment of the principal amount only. The Moratorium Period would be for the relevant project, and not for each release.
- The rate of interest would be 6.5% per annum for the end-borrower, which is currently set by the NDDB. The same would be effective throughout the repayment period. Therefore, interest will be calculated on a daily product basis, without compounding.
- The end-borrower is required to pay a commitment charge of 2% per annum with applicable taxes on the cumulative difference if the cumulative disbursement at the end of a quarter is below 90% of the pre-approved cumulative draw-down schedule. The rates may differ and will be conveyed by the NDDB as required. This charge would be levied from the start of the next quarter up until the differential amount is withdrawn.
- The end-borrower will be required to provide a State Government Guarantee for the repayment of the loan offered by the DIDF. However, this condition may be relaxed in situations where the end-borrower has enough collateral security. For cases such as these, the NDDB, in consultation with the NABARD, would examine the same and approval would be given as required.
- Loans availed from any other financial institutions or banks for projects under execution will be considered as loan swapping under the DIDF scheme subject to certain pre-conditions that have to be fulfilled.
- An eligible end-borrower must obtain a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the concerned financial institutions or funding agencies.
- The end-borrower will have to qualify for all the eligibility criteria defined under the DIDF scheme.
- No cases or disputes with respect to projects under consideration must be pending in the court of law.
- As per the terms and conditions of the DIDF Scheme, the reassessment of the project cost must be estimated along with procurement procedures and viability.
- Assessment of capability of the end-borrower to provide adequate security includes a guarantee from the State Government.
- There is an excessive number of unproductive animals which compete with productive dairy animals in the utilisation of available feeds and fodder.
- The grazing area is being reduced markedly every year due to industrial development resulting in a shortage of supply of feeds and fodder to the total requirement.
- Ever increasing gap between demand and supply in feeds and fodder limits the performance of dairy animals. Moreover, the provision of poor quality of forage to dairy cattle restricts animal production system.
- The low capability of purchasing feeds and fodder by the small and marginal farmers and agricultural labourers engaged in dairy development results in inadequate feeding.
- Non-supplementation of mineral mixture results in mineral deficiency diseases. High-cost Feeding reduces the profits of the dairy industry.
- Late maturity, in most of the Indian cattle breeds, is a common problem. There is no effective detection of heat symptoms during oestrus cycle by the cattle owners. The calving interval is on the increase resulting in a reduction in efficiency of animal performance.
- Diseases causing abortion lead to economic loss to industry. Mineral, hormone and vitamin deficiencies lead to fertility problems.
- A vigorous education and training programmes on good dairy practices could result in the production of safe dairy products, but to succeed they have to be participative in nature.
- In this regard, education and training of all the employees is essential so that they understand what they are doing and develop a sense of ownership.
- However, developing and implementing such programs in the dairy sector requires a strong commitment from the management, which at times is a stumbling block.
- Veterinary health care centres are located in far off places. The ratio between cattle population and veterinary institutions is wider, resulting in inadequate health services to animals.
- No regular and periodical vaccination schedule is followed, regular deworming programme is not done as per schedule, resulting in heavy mortality in calves, especially in buffalo. No adequate immunity is established against various cattle diseases.
- Many cattle owners do not provide proper shelter for their cattle leaving them exposed to extreme climatic conditions. Unsanitary conditions of cattle shed and milking yards lead to mastitis conditions.
- Unhygienic milk production leads to a reduction in storing quality and spoilage of milk and other products.
- Dairy farmers are not getting remunerative prices for milk supply. Due to the adoption of extensive crossbreeding programme with Holstein Friesian breed, the fat content of crossbreed cow's milk is on the declining condition and low price is offered as the milk price is estimated on the basis of fat and solid non-fat milk content.
- There is also a poor perception of the farmers, due to lack of marketing facilities and extension services, towards commercial dairy enterprise as an alternative to other occupations.
- This sector plays an important role in achieving food security, reducing global poverty, generating employment opportunities for women, and providing a regular source of income for rural households.
- In developing economies, landless and poor farmers are actively involved in dairying as an essential means of livelihood. According to the FAO 2018 report, more than 500 million impoverished people depend mainly on livestock, and many of them are small and marginal dairy farmers.
- Additionally, dairy development helps in boosting rural economic growth and empowering rural women. Moreover, 160 million children around the world receive benefits from milk through school feeding programmes.
- The dairy sector plays a vital role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — especially SDG 1-No poverty, SDG 3-Good health, SDG 5-Gender equality, SDG 8-Good jobs and economic growth, and SDG 10-Reduced inequalities — and it helps in improving lives and transforming the global economy.
- Apart from being an important sector globally, dairying is equally important in developing economies like India, for providing nutrition support, reducing rural poverty, inequity, ensuring food security for millions of rural households, and enhancing economic growth, particularly in rural areas.
- The livestock sector contributes about 4.11 per cent to India's GDP and 25.6 per cent towards total agriculture GDP, whereas the dairy sector claims a major share by contributing 67per cent to total livestock output.
- This sector also provides self-employment opportunities, particularly for women and economically disadvantaged groups. Annually, 8.4 million small and marginal farmers depend on the dairy sector for livelihood, both directly and indirectly, out of which 71 per cent are women, thus demonstrating that the sector plays a vital role in women empowerment and inclusive growth.
- Dairying helps in equitable distribution of income and employment among the rural farming households, thereby reducing the disparity in holding of resources by the rural communities.
- Dairying in India is an occupation of small farmers. Over 60 percent of close to 11 million farmer members in about 100,000 village milk cooperatives all over the country are small, marginal and even landless producers. Dairying has not meant just producing milk leading to India emerging as the largest milk producer in the world. Dairying has provided livelihoods to millions of the poorest in our country and for many it is the sole source of livelihood, bringing cash into their hands, twice a day every day of the year.
- Improvement in livestock production is important for increasing the income of marginal and small farmers and landless laborers, given the uncertainties of crop production. The sector needs focused attention particularly in drought prone areas where there is all the more need to add to the incomes of the farmers.
- Promotion of dairying as a viable enterprise in the remote rural areas of the country can boost rural income and employment to a great extent. This can go a long way in removing poverty, unemployment and violence emanating from the rural areas of the country.
- The National Dairy Development Board's (NDDB) creation is rooted in the conviction that our nation's socio-economic progress lies largely on the development of rural India.
- The Dairy Board was created to promote, finance and support producer-owned and controlled organisations. NDDB's programmes and activities seek to strengthen farmer owned institutions and support national policies that are favourable to the growth of such institutions. Fundamental to NDDB's efforts are cooperative strategies and principles.
- NDDB’s efforts transformed India’s rural economy by making dairying a viable and profitable economic activity for millions of milk producers while addressing the country’s need for self-sufficiency in milk production.
- NDDB has been reaching out to dairy farmers by implementing other income generating innovative activities and offering them sustainable livelihood.
- Till date, EESL has installed over 1.23 crore (as on 16.03.2022) LED street lights in ULBs and Gram Panchayats across India under SLNP Scheme.
About Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Light Emitting Diode (LED) for All (UJALA)
- UJALA [Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Light Emitting Diode (LED) for All] was launched on 5th January, 2015 to provide energy efficient LED bulbs to domestic consumers at an affordable price.
- The programme was successful in bringing down the retail price of the LED bulbs from Rs. 300- 350 per LED bulb in the year 2014 to Rs 70-80 per bulb, in a short span of 3 years.
- To set up a phase-by-phase LED distribution system across the country.
- The goal is to raise public awareness about the necessity of energy efficiency.
- To promote energy efficiency at the household level throughout India.
- To convey the notion that energy efficiency has a long-term influence on environmental preservation.
- The government’s goal under the scheme is to replace all 77 crore inefficient bulbs in the country with LED bulbs.
- The replacement will result in a 20,000 MW load reduction and an 80 million tonnes decrease in Green House Gas emissions each year.
- Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is responsible for the implementation of the scheme. The EESL is a joint venture of four state-run electricity firms under the Ministry of Power.
- These electricity firms are NTPC, PFC, REC, and Power Grid Corporation. State governments are voluntarily adopting the Ujala scheme.
- The Ujala scheme is currently active in 26 states and 6 union territories as of November 18, 2016. Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, and Manipur are the three states that have yet to embrace the plan.
- Increase the demand of LED lights by aggregating requirements across the country and provide economies of scale to manufacturers through regular bulk procurement, which helped the manufacturers to reduce the cost of LED bulbs not only for UJALA program but for retail segment as well.
- Promote the use of the most efficient lighting technology at affordable rates to domestic consumers which benefits them by way of reduced energy bill while at the same time improving their quality of life through better illumination.
- Enhance consumer awareness of the financial and environmental benefits of using energy efficient appliances, thus creating a market for energy efficient appliances.
- On May 1, 2015, the Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All UJALA scheme was established to promote energy efficiency at the domestic level and raise consumer knowledge about utilizing efficient equipment to cut electricity bills and benefit the environment.
- The program encourages people to utilize LED bulbs instead of incandescent, tube, and CFL bulbs.
- LED bulbs are given at subsidized rates under the UJALA scheme through specific counters only put up at designated locations throughout the country.
- A beneficiary is any household with a metered power connection from the relevant Electricity DISCOM. When making an upfront payment, the applicant just needs to show government-issued identification such as an Aadhar card, Voter ID, or Passport. Furthermore, while making an EMI payment, you must submit a copy of the most recent power bill.
- UJALA LED bulbs are 9W and cost between Rs. 75 and Rs. 95 per bulb. The modest differences between states are due to differences in relevant taxes, delivery expenses, and so on.
- You can purchase the LED bulb either in full or in monthly or bi-monthly instalments on the electricity bill. In Gujarat, for example, users can pay Rs. 70 per bulb upfront or opt for an EMI option.
- With the EMI option, you will pay Rs. 75 in total and Rs. 20 will be added to their bi-monthly power payment for four-bill cycles.
- UJALA LED bulbs are available for purchase at DISCOM offices, Electricity bill cash counters, specific EESL kiosks, and weekly ‘haat’ markets. Under Ujala Scheme, a consumer may purchase a maximum of 10 bulbs.
- An incandescent bulb has a lifespan of about 1,200 hours, whereas LEDs have a substantially longer lifespan, ranging from 50,000 to 1,00,000 hours.
- In comparison to incandescent lights, LEDs use about 75% less energy.
- Because LEDs convert energy into light, they run at a much lower temperature than super-heated incandescent light bulbs. Incandescent bulbs, on the other hand, turn heat into light.
- Industry data and consumer surveys indicate that LED bulbs are mainly replacing CFLs. Going ahead, the programme needs to focus on lower income households and small commercial establishments who buy incandescent bulbs to phase out their use. One way to do this is to re-emphasise the on-bill financing mechanism.
- EESL cannot expect to continue selling LED bulbs perpetually and replace the vast network of dealers and retailers across India. Half of the demand for LED bulbs in India is still generated through the UJALA programme.
- A sudden withdrawal may result in a sharp drop in demand with a possible rise in price. A gradual withdrawal combined with shifted focus to low-income households can be a good exit strategy.
- Household surveys reveal that buyers are not keen on exchanging the faulty LED bulbs under warranty because they are either unaware of the option or have difficulty with the exchange process.
- EESL can make it convenient for consumers to return the faulty bulbs by conducting periodic collection drives or collaborating with local retail shops.
- UJALA prices for LED bulbs are half of the market price. Our kiosk surveys in Pune have revealed that distribution vendors can take advantage of this by charging a premium, while still keeping the final price below the market price.
- Consumers unaware of the latest prices still buy them and vendors pocket the premium. EESL and the local DISCOM can conduct awareness campaigns to avoid this.
- A stricter monitoring of the distribution of UJALA bulbs is required to ensure that they do not end up in retail shops. Also, data should be collected on participating households to facilitate systematic evaluation of the actual savings realised either through bill analysis or randomised consumer surveys.
- Periodic evaluation of the savings and processes should be conducted to increase their effectiveness.
- People are mostly replacing CFLs with LEDs under the UJALA programme. CFLs, with their mercury content, pose serious problems if they are discarded without care. EESL can collaborate with an e-waste company to set up collection kiosks for old CFLs along with the LED kiosks.
- Buyers should not be mandated to submit CFLs but could use the facility if they want to discard their used CFLs. This can ensure their proper disposal.
- The dramatic price drop in LED bulbs was a result of a global price reduction and the significant potential of economies of scale. The large-scale uptake was also possible as LED bulbs are relatively cheaper than other appliances, as well as easy to buy and store.
- Although the bulk procurement model has the potential of transforming the market, programmes for other appliances should not be burdened with expectations of a speed and scale similar to that of the UJALA programme.
- A gradual and predictable increase in demand for energy efficient technology is better for the creation of a market and its supporting eco-system such as testing laboratories and standards.
- A gradual transformation also prevents a mass lock-in to a particular technology given the rapid pace of technology change. Also, a proper withdrawal plan must be in place so that the market is not disturbed when the programme is withdrawn.
- The EESL limited the role of DISCOMs in the programme to ensure faster and higher levels of participation. However, DISCOMs should not completely withdraw from the Demand Side Management (DSM) programmes.
- Effective DSM programmes can significantly impact the demand and load profiles which in turn can impact planning for the purchase of power by DISCOMs. They should actively engage with EESL to design specific programmes according to their needs.
- EESL and BEE should continue their efforts to build the capacity of DISCOMs with regard to DSM programmes.
- A comprehensive evaluation of the varied impacts of the programme and the effectiveness of the processes is crucial. The BEE can commission these studies at the national level while regulatory commissions or DISCOMs can commission evaluation studies at the local level.
- A realistic estimate of achieved savings can reliably inform the planning process and also increase the credibility of the programmes.
- A programme design document delineating all the features and processes along with their rationale can be useful as a reference for all the stakeholders, a guide for future programmes, and a tool to hold all the actors accountable.
- Similarly, during the course of the programme, reports on testing, evaluation, and warranty claims should be made public on a regular basis. This will help identify any major issues during the implementation and also increase the public credibility of the programme.
- To conclude, UJALA has succeeded in creating a large and sustainable market for LED bulbs in India using the no-subsidy, bulk procurement model. Demand for LED bulbs has increased manifold and the retail market price (for the LED bulbs sold beyond UJALA) has dropped by a third.
- Domestic manufacture of LED bulbs has increased, efficiency standards are being implemented, and the number of accredited testing laboratories has grown, all pointing to sustainability of the LED lighting market. It has also created a significant awareness about LED bulbs in India, further contributing to their increasing demand.
- Going ahead, EESL should target low-income households and small commercial establishments who are still buying incandescent bulbs. It can conduct special campaigns and also focus more on the on-bill financing mechanism that reduces the upfront cost of the LED bulbs. The streamlined procurement processes and innovative marketing campaigns from the UJALA model can be used for other appliances as well.
- However, stricter monitoring and evaluation should be incorporated in the programme design to ensure the quality of the appliances, compliance of various processes, proper disposal of old appliances, and realistic calculation of achieved savings. Although the bulk procurement model does not involve subsidy, it is important to quantify the savings realistically to factor them into planning optimised capacity addition and adequate climate change mitigation actions.
- Street Lighting National Program (SLNP) was launched on 5th January 2015 as “Prakash Path” – National Program for adoption of LED Street Lighting. The main objective was to convert conventional Street Lights with energy efficient LED Street Lights.
- Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) was designated as the implementing agency to implement this program across Pan- India. This initiative was a part of the Government’s efforts to spread the message of energy efficiency in the country and bring market transformation for energy efficient appliances.
- EESL joined hands with the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), Municipal Bodies, Gram Panchayats (GPs) and Central & State Governments to implement SLNP across India.
- Under SLNP, 1576 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have been enrolled, out of these ULBs, work has been completed in 1060 ULBs.
- EESL is also implementing LED Street lighting projects in Gram Panchayats on the same service model as the SLNP for municipalities with the objective to promote the use of efficient lighting in rural areas. So far, EESL has installed 26 lakh LED street lights in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Goa and Telangana.
- The LED Street lights are installed after a detailed survey of the existing infrastructure is undertaken. The survey inter-alia looks at the infrastructure gaps, verification of inventory and mapping locations for setting up CCMS (Centralized Control and Monitoring System)
- Mitigate climate change by implementing energy efficient LED based street lighting
- Reduce energy consumption in lighting which helps DISCOMs to manage peak demand
- Provide a sustainable service model that obviates the need for upfront capital investment as well as additional revenue expenditure to pay for procurement of LED lights
- Enhance municipal services at no upfront capital cost of municipalities
- EESL replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs at its own costs and consequent reduction in energy and maintenance cost of the municipality is used to repay EESL over a period of time.
- The contracts that EESL enters into with Municipalities are typically of 7 years duration where it not only guarantees a minimum energy saving but also provides free replacements and maintenance of lights at no additional costs to the municipalities.
- The service model enables the municipalities to go in for the state-of-the-art street light with no upfront capital cost and repayments to EESL are within the present level of expenditure.
- Thus, there is no additional revenue expenditure required to be incurred by the municipality for change over to smart and energy efficient LED street lights.
- Reduce energy consumption in lighting which helps DISCOMs to manage peak demand. Market Transformation by reduced pricing through demand aggregation and shifting the buying preference from Sodium Vapour/Fluorescent Lighting to LED Based Solid-State Lighting.
- Under this model, ESCO replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs at its own costs (without any need for municipalities to invest) and the consequent reduction in energy and maintenance cost of the municipality is used to repay ESCO over a period of time.
- Mitigate climate change by implementing energy efficient LED based street lights resulting in reduced GHG emissions. Also, reduction in energy intensity thereby supporting India’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) goals.
- Improvement in the safety & security in public area in rural, semi urban, and urban settings through better illumination.
What is a Hypersonic Missile?
- A hypersonic missile is a weapon system which flies at least at the speed of Mach 5 i.e., five times the speed of sound and is manoeuverable.
- The manoeuvrability of the hypersonic missile is what sets it apart from a ballistic missile as the latter follows a set course or a ballistic trajectory. Thus, unlike ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles do not follow a ballistic trajectory and can be maneuvered to the intended target.
- The two types of hypersonic weapons systems are Hypersonic Glide Vehicles (HGV) and Hypersonic Cruise Missiles.
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- Hypersonic Cruise Missile
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- This type of missile reaches its target with the help of a high-speed jet engine that allows it to travel at extreme speeds, in excess of Mach-5.
- It is non-ballistic – the opposite of traditional Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) which utilises gravitational forces to reach its target.
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- Hypersonic Glide Vehicle
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- This type of hypersonic missile utilises re-entry vehicles. Initially, the missile is launched into space on an arching trajectory, where the warheads are released and fall towards the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
- Rather than leaving the payload at the mercy of gravitational forces – as is the case for traditional ICBMs – the warheads are attached to a glide vehicle which re-enters the atmosphere, and through its aerodynamic shape it can ride the shockwaves generated by its own lift as it breaches the speed of sound, giving it enough speed to overcome existing missile defence systems.
- The glide vehicle surfs on the atmosphere between 40-100km in altitude and reaches its destination by leveraging aerodynamic forces.
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- The HGV are launched from a rocket before gliding to the intended target while the hypersonic cruise missile is powered by air breathing high speed engines or ‘scramjets’ after acquiring their target.
- Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound in the upper atmosphere — or about 6,200km per hour.
- This is slower than an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) but the shape of a hypersonic glide vehicle allows it to manoeuvere toward a target or away from defences.
- Hypersonic missiles can also travel for longer without being detected by radar.
- Combining a glide vehicle with a missile that can launch it partially into orbit — a so-called fractional orbital bombardment system (FOBS) — could thus strip adversaries of reaction time and traditional defence mechanisms.
- ICBMs, by contrast, are long-range missiles that carry nuclear warheads on ballistic trajectories that leave the earth's atmosphere before re-entry, pursuing a parabolic trajectory towards its target – but they never reach space.
- Both the US and USSR studied FOBS during the Cold War, and the USSR deployed such a system starting in the 1970s. It was removed from service by the mid-80s.
- Submarine-launched ballistic missiles had many of the advantages of FOBS — reducing detection times and making it impossible to know where a strike would come from — and were seen as less destabilizing than FOBS.
- Hypersonic weapons can enable responsive, long range strike options against distant, defended or time critical threats (such as road mobile missiles) when other forces are unavailable, denied access or not preferred.
- Conventional hypersonic weapons use only kinetic energy i.e., energy derived from motion, to destroy unhardened targets or even underground facilities.
- Hypersonic missiles offer a number of advantages over subsonic and supersonic weapons, particularly with regard to the prosecution of time-critical targets (for example, mobile ballistic missile launchers), where the additional speed of a hypersonic weapon is valuable.
- It can also overcome the defences of heavily-defended targets (such as an aircraft carrier).
- The development and deployment of hypersonic weapon systems will provide states with significantly enhanced strike capabilities and potentially, the means to coerce.
- This will be particularly the case where a major regional power, such as Russia, may seek to coerce a neighbour, leveraging the threat of hypersonic strikes against critical targets. As such, the proliferation of hypersonic capabilities to regional states could also be destabilising, upsetting local balances of power. However, it could also strengthen deterrence.
- Hypersonic weapons may also be problematic in terms of escalation control in the context of a NATO-Russia or US-China confrontation. This concerns dual-capable systems, that is, systems with both conventional and nuclear capabilities, for example, the Kinzhal.
- The dual-capable systems raise the issue of discrimination. In the context of hypersonic threats, this is compounded by the reduced time available to decision-makers to respond to an incoming threat.
- Moreover, the development of submarine-launched hypersonic missiles would raise the potential threat – real or perceived – of attempted decapitation strikes, utilising the combination of the inherent stealth of a nuclear-powered submarine and the speed of a hypersonic missile.
- Subsonic missiles are slower than the speed of sound. Most well-known missiles fall into this category, such as the US Tomahawk cruise missile, the French Exocet, and the Indian Nirbhay. Subsonic missiles travel at a speed around Mach-0.9 (705 mph).
- Subsonic missiles are slow and easier to intercept, but they still play a huge role in modern battlefields. Not only are they substantially cheaper to produce as the technological challenges have already been overcome and mastered, but subsonic missiles provide an additional layer of strategic value due to its low speed and small size.
- Once a subsonic missile has been launched, it can loiter in proximity to its intended target, as a result of its fuel efficiency. This, combined with its comparatively low speed, gives senior military decision-makers ample time to decide if a strike should be continued or abandoned.
- Comparatively, a hypersonic or supersonic missile compresses the time afforded to senior decisions makers into a matter of minutes.
- A supersonic missile exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1) but is not faster than Mach-3. Most supersonic missiles travel at a speed between Mach-2 and Mach-3, which is up to 2,300 mph.
- The most well-known supersonic missile is the Indian/Russian BrahMos, is currently the fastest operational supersonic missile capable of speeds around 2,100–2,300 mph.
- A hypersonic missile exceeds Mach-5 (3,800 mph) and is five times faster than the speed of sound. Currently, there is no operational defence system that can deny the use of these strategic weapons.
- As a result, many world powers including the US, Russia, India, and China are working on hypersonic missiles. However, there are many technological hurdles to overcome, particularly with regards to sustaining combustion inside the missile system, while enduring extreme temperatures of hypersonic speed.
- Hypersonic weapons could challenge detection and defence due to their speed, manoeuvrability and low altitude of flight.
- The ground-based radars or terrestrial radars cannot detect hypersonic missiles until late in the flight of the weapon. This delayed detection makes it difficult for the responders to the missile attack to assess their options and to attempt to intercept the missile.
- The United State of America’s current command and control model for missile defence would be incapable of processing data quickly enough to respond to and neutralize an incoming hypersonic missile.
- Apart from Russia, which announced its hypersonic missile ‘Kinzhal’ or Dagger in 2018 and has now used it for the first time in battle conditions in Ukraine, China too is reportedly in possession of this weapon system and has twice used it to circumnavigate the globe before landing near a target in August 2021.
- The Russian Kinzhal missile is said to be a modification of its Iskander missile and was test fired from a MiG-31 aircraft in July 2018 striking at a target 500 miles away.
- As per Russian media reports the Kinzhal has a top speed of Mach 10 with a range up to 1200 miles when launched from a MiG-31. Russia is also said to be using the missile on Su-34 long range fighter and is working towards mounting it on Tu-22M3 strategic bomber.
- China is said to have tested a HGV in August 2021 launched by a Long March rocket. There are reports that China may use this weapon system by mating conventionally armed HGVs with the DF-21 and DF-26 missiles that it possesses.
- China has also extensively tested the DF-ZF HGV with a range of 1200 miles and is said to have fielded it in 2020. According to US defence officials quoted in the Congressional report, China has also successfully tested Starry Sky-2 (Xing Kong-2), a nuclear capable hypersonic vehicle prototype in August 2018.
- In the US, the hypersonic weapons are being developed under its Navy’s conventional Prompt Strike Programme as well as through Army, Air Force and Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
- While the US, Russia and China are in advanced stages of hypersonic missile programmes, India, France, Germany, Japan and Australia too are developing hypersonic weapons.
- The recent tests are the moves in a dangerous arms race in which smaller Asian nations are striving to develop advanced long-range missiles, alongside major military powers.
- Hypersonic weapons, and FOBS, could be a concern as they can potentially evade missile shields and early warning systems.
- China already has ~100 nuclear-armed ICBMs that can strike the US.
- India is also developing an indigenous, dual capable (conventional as well as nuclear) hypersonic cruise missile as part of its Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle programme and has successfully tested a Mach 6 scramjet in June 2019 and September 2020.
- India operates approximately 12 hypersonic wind tunnels and is capable of testing speeds up to Mach 13.
- India has been working on this for a few years, and is just behind the US, Russia and China. DRDO successfully tested a Hypersonic Technology Demonstrated Vehicle (HSTDV) in September 2020, and demonstrated its hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology.
- According to sources, India has developed its own cryogenic engine and demonstrated it in a 23-second flight. India will try to make a hypersonic cruise missile, using HSTDV.
- Sources said only Russia has proven its hypersonic missile capability so far, while China has demonstrated its HGV capacity. India is expected to be able to have a hypersonic weapons system within four years, with medium- to long-range capabilities.
- While China is ahead of India, a “lot of things about China are psychological”.
- According to a Pentagon report in 2020, China may have either achieved parity, or even exceeded the US in land-based conventional ballistic and cruise missile capabilities.
- China’s missile development is “definitely a concern for us, but we will definitely evolve”. If China strikes a strategic target of India, “we will hit back with equal potential, and hit them at the place where it matters the most.”
- China has given Pakistan the technology, “but getting a technology and really using it, and thereafter evolving and adopting a policy is totally different”.
- Hypersonic missiles are called “weapons of deterrence” but will not be used. They “will continue to deter, but unlikely that China will ever use this. But if it does, India will not sit idle.”
- On nuclear capability, although India does not call BrahMos nuclear, it can be used. India’s only nuclear missiles are Prithvi and Agni, but beyond those, tactical nuclear weapons can be fired from some IAF fighter jets or from Army guns, which have a low range, around 50 km.
- Hypersonic missiles are so valuable because there is currently no operational or reliable method of intercepting them. However, as defence technology progresses countermeasures will emerge. Technologies such as directed energy weapons, particle beams and other non-kinetic weapons will be likely candidates for an effective defence against hypersonic missiles.
- Hypersonic weapons reduce the time required to prosecute a target (especially compared to current subsonic cruise missiles), the warning time available to an adversary, and the time available for defensive systems to engage the incoming threat.
- Although hypersonic threats would pose a significant challenge to current surface-to-air and air-to-air missile systems, such systems would, particularly in the conventional precision strike role, require a robust intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) network.
- Targeting the supporting network kinetically and through means such as cyber and electronic attacks could significantly degrade the operational effectiveness of long-range hypersonic weapons.
- In addition, counterforce operations targeting the launch platforms ‘left-of-launch’ can be undertaken, although, this may not be possible in the case of long-range systems such as the Kinzhal and Avangard.
- In the mid-to-long term, directed energy weapons and electromagnetic rail guns, as well as enhanced performance missile interceptors, could provide defence against hypersonic threats.
- The USN is already close to outfitting its ships with a 150-kilowatt laser that will be able to target missiles, drones and other modern threats.
- Another countermeasure has been proposed by the Missile Defense Agency. A network of space-based satellites and sensors would theoretically be able to track hypersonic glide vehicles globally. This would be a huge first step in hypersonic missile defence.
- In addition, Lockheed Martin was awarded a $2.9 bn contract to develop Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared Satellites. There is a high chance that these satellites will aim to fill the hole that exists for early supersonic/hypersonic detection.
- This is all future technology though. At the moment, the race for operational hypersonic missiles is closely contested between the US, Russia, and China.
- After all, there is still no effective defence against a barrage of conventional ICBMs.
- After a long hiatus, hypersonic missile research and development is back in full swing. Major Powers, such as Russia, China and the US have been racing to develop hypersonic missile – a missile system so fast that it cannot be intercepted by any current missile defence system.
- Hypersonic missiles will play a huge role in foreign policy in the years to come, as core pillars of geopolitics such as geography and technological power can be undermined by hypersonic missiles. And, given a recent uptick in “successful” tests from the likes of China and Russia, hypersonic missiles are much closer than we think, forcing a global re-assessment of traditional notions of deterrence.
About Blue Economy
- Blue economy essentially refers to the multitude of ocean resources available in the country that can be harnessed to aid the production of goods and services because of its linkages with economic growth, environmental sustainability, and national security.
- The blue economy is a vast socio-economic opportunity for coastal nations like India to utilise ocean resources for societal benefit responsibly.
- India’s blue economy is a subset of the national economy comprising the entire ocean resources system and human-made economic infrastructure in marine, maritime, and onshore coastal zones within the country’s legal jurisdiction.
- With some 7,500 kilometers, India has a unique maritime position. Nine of its 29 states are coastal, and its geography includes 1,382 islands.
- There are nearly 199 ports, including 12 major ports that handle approximately 1,400 million tons of cargo each year.
- Besides, India’s Exclusive Economic Zone of over 2 million square kilometers has a bounty of living and non-living resources with significant recoverable resources such as crude oil and natural gas. Also, the coastal economy sustains over 4 million fisherfolk and coastal communities.
- Given India’s vast maritime interests, the blue economy occupies a vital potential position in India’s economic growth.
- It could well be the next force multiplier of GDP and well-being, provided sustainability and socio-economic welfare are centred.
- Therefore, India's draft blue economy policy is envisaged as a crucial framework towards unlocking the country’s potential for economic growth and welfare.
- The MoES prepared the draft blue economy policy framework in line with the Government of India’s Vision of New India by 2030.
- According to the draft policy, the blue economy is one of the ten core dimensions for national growth. It dwells on policies across several key sectors to achieve the holistic development of India’s economy.
- The draft document focuses on seven thematic areas such as
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- national accounting framework for the blue economy and ocean governance;
- coastal marine spatial planning and tourism;
- marine fisheries, aquaculture, and fish processing;
- manufacturing, emerging industries, trade, technology, services, and skill development;
- logistics, infrastructure and shipping including transhipment;
- coastal and deep-sea mining and offshore energy;
- security, strategic dimensions, and international engagement.
- India has tapped its vast coastline to build ports and other shipping assets to facilitate trade, but the entire spectrum of its ocean resources is yet to be fully harnessed. Several countries have undertaken initiatives to utilise their blue economy.
- For instance, Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, and Norway have developed dedicated national ocean policies with measurable outcomes and budgetary provisions.
- Canada and Australia have enacted legislation and established institutions at federal and state levels to ensure progress and monitoring of their blue economy targets.
- With a draft blue economy policy framework of its own, India is now all set to harness the vast potential of its ocean resources.
- Fisheries, which is a vital oceanic resource forms the core of the Blue Economy, as one of the main resources of the Indian Ocean which provide food to hundreds of millions of people and greatly contribute to the livelihoods of coastal communities.
- It plays an important role in ensuring food security, poverty alleviation and also has a huge potential for business opportunities.
- There has been a strong increase in fish production from 861,000 tons in 1950 to 11.5 million tons in 2010 and the world's total demand for fish and fisheries products is expected to rise from 50 million to 183 million tons in 2015, with aquaculture activities predicted to cover about 73% of this increase.
- Aquaculture, which offers huge potential for the provision of food and livelihoods, will under the Blue Economy incorporate the value of the natural capital in its development, respecting ecological parameters throughout the cycle of production, creating sustainable, decent employment and offer high value commodities for export.
- To meet the increasing public demand for seafood products, natural fisheries resources are being over-exploited and threatened. Therefore, the urgent need to find a balance between population need and environmental health has provided impetus to the promotion of sustainable fishing and aquaculture.
- Well-managed fisheries can deliver billions more in value and millions of tonnes more fish each year, while aquaculture has the potential for continued strong growth to supply the food requirements of a growing world.
- The world population is expected to increase to an estimated 9 billion people in 2050, which is 1.5 times greater than the current population, resulting in an increase in countries' demands on fossil fuels.
- Recently there has been a collapse in the price of crude oil, but the possibility of an eventual normalization (of return to higher prices) should not be disregarded and thus necessitates the continued attention of IORA Member States to consider alternative renewable sources of energy.
- Renewable sources of energy such as solar and wind are already being implemented worldwide. However, additional incentives in renewable energy are strongly in demand to further decrease the burden on fossil fuels.
- The time is therefore appropriate to explore the potential of renewable energy derived from the ocean. The ocean offers vast potential for renewable "blue energy" from wind, wave, tidal, thermal and biomass sources.
- In line with the above efforts, it is also proposed to bring together the offshore oil and gas community with the renewable ocean energy community to undertake a gap analysis in relation to Oil and Gas exploration.
- In this regard the potential for the development of the offshore oil and gas industry in the Indian Ocean region should also be taken into consideration.
- The seaport and maritime transport sector are one of the important priority sectors under the Blue Economy, in which Member States are showing a greater interest.
- In spite of the continuous rise of maritime transport and shipping transactions in the region, uneven distribution of trade exists among the rim countries, where only a handful are benefiting economically from maritime exchanges and transportation.
- Some Member States unfortunately are struggling to keep pace with the rapid development and complexity of maritime trade as they face challenges in terms of congestion, new information technology and equipment, improvement of port infrastructure and professional services.
- In this regard, regional cooperation is important for unlocking the bottlenecks to ports development and maritime economy expansion in the Indian Ocean so as to enhance blue growth through economic cooperation and trade relations between Member States.
- With the decreasing inland mineral deposits and increasing industrial demands, much attention is being focused on mineral exploration and mining of the seabed.
- The seabed contains minerals that represent a rapidly developing opportunity for economic development in both the Exclusive Economic Zones of coastal nations and beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
- Seabed exploration in the Indian Ocean has already started, but the major constraints in the commercialization of these resources lie in the fact that Member States have limited data on the resources their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) possesses, lack capacity for exploration, mining and processing of these minerals. Therefore, improved information is needed to assess the potential across the region.
- Marine biotechnology (or Blue Biotechnology) is considered an area of great interest and potential due to the contribution to the building of an eco-sustainable and highly efficient society.
- A fundamental aspect is related to aquaculture, whereby new methodologies will help in: selective breeding of species; increasing sustainability of production; and enhancing animal welfare, including adjustments in food supply, preventive therapeutic measures, and use of zero-waste recirculation systems.
- Aquaculture products will also be improved to gain optimal nutritional properties for human health. Another strategic area of marine biotechnology is related to the development of renewable energy products and processes, for example through the use of marine algae.
- In addition, the marine environment is a largely untapped source of novel compounds that could be potentially used as novel drugs, health, nutraceuticals and personal care products; Blue Biotechnology could be further involved in addressing key environmental issues, such as in bio-sensing technologies to allow in situ marine monitoring, in bioremediation and in developing cost-effective and non-toxic antifouling technologies.
- Finally, marine derived molecules could be of high utility as industrial products or could be used in industrial processes as new enzymes, biopolymers, and biomaterials
- Marine tourism, with its related marine activities (including cruise tourism), is a growing industry that represents an important contributor to the economy of countries and for generating employment.
- However, these activities, if not managed sustainably, could develop a parasitic relationship with the environment, leading to destruction and degradation of marine habitats and environment, loss of biodiversity, marine pollution and over-exploitation of resources.
- This necessitates actions for environmental protection in order to prevent any irreversible impacts (for example sedimentation over coral organisms by sheer human physical impact, beach erosion, and mangrove clearance) that may arise from marine tourism industry.
- Protecting local marine resources is one of the most urgent needs in promoting sustainable tourism. Sustainable coastal tourism can assist with the preservation of artisanal fishing communities, allow for subsistence fishing, protect the environment, and make positive contributions to sustainable economic development.
- In view of addressing these issues, there is a need to:
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- create more and increase the size of marine protected areas (MPAs);
- establish and promote sustainable marine tourism; create opportunities for financing MPAs;
- develop more marine parks, among others.
- In addition to providing areas for recreation and enjoyment, marine parks support billions of dollars of vital ecosystem services worldwide.
- The Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana. (PMMSY) is designed to address critical gaps in fish production and productivity, quality, technology, post-harvest infrastructure and management, modernisation and strengthening of value chain, traceability, establishing a robust fisheries management framework and fishers? welfare.
- The PMMSY is an umbrella scheme with two separate Components namely (a) Central Sector Scheme (CS) and (b) Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS).
- The Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) Component is further segregated into non-beneficiary oriented and beneficiary orientated subcomponents/activities under the following three broad heads:
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- Enhancement of Production and Productivity
- Infrastructure and Post-harvest Management
- Fisheries Management and Regulatory Framework
- Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada has been approved at a total estimated investment of Rs. 20,050 crores comprising of Central share of Rs. 9407 crores, State share of Rs 4880 crores and Beneficiaries contribution of Rs. 5763 crores.
- PMMSY will be implemented in all the States and Union Territories for a period of 5 (five) years from FY 2020-21 to FY 2024-25.
- A scheme to bring about Blue Revolution through sustainable and responsible development of fisheries sector in India with highest ever investment of Rs.20,050 Crores in the fisheries sector, for implementation over a period of five years from financial year 2020-21 to financial year 2024-25 in all States/Union Territories.
- The PMMSY inter-alia provides financial support for acquisition technologically advanced fishing vessels, deep sea fishing vessels for traditional fishermen, fishing boats and nets for traditional fishermen, providing safety kits for fishermen of traditional and motorized fishing vessels, communication and/or tracking devices for traditional and motorized vessels and infrastructure facilities for Monitoring, Control and Surveillance, etc.
- The Government of India, in 2018-19, has also extended the facility of Kisan Credit Card (KCC) to fisheries and animal husbandry farmers to help them and to meet their working capital needs.
- The Fisheries and Aquaculture Infrastructure Development Fund (FIDF) has been created at a total outlay of Rs. 7522 Crores to provide concessional finance to Eligible Entities (EEs). Besides, the concerned coastal State Governments/UTs are also providing tax rebate for fuel and other subsidies to Indian fishermen.
- Major Impact, Including Employment Generation Potential
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- The fish production is likely to be enhanced from 13.75 million metric tons (2018-19) to 22 million metric tons by 2024-25.
- A sustained average annual growth of about 9% in fish production is expected.
- An increase in the contribution of GVA of fisheries sector to the Agriculture GVA from 7.28% in 2018-19 to about 9% by 2024-25.
- Double export earnings from the present Rs.46,589 crores (2018-19) to about Rs.1,00,000 crores by 2024-25.
- Enhancement of productivity in aquaculture from the present national average of 3 tons to about 5 tons per hectare.
- Reduction of post-harvest losses from the reported 20-25% to about 10%.
- Doubling of incomes of fishers and fish farmers.
- Generation of about 15 lakhs direct gainful employment opportunities and thrice the number as indirect employment opportunities along the supply and value chain.
- Enhancement of the domestic fish consumption from about 5 kg to about 12 kg per capita.
- Encouragement of private investment and facilitation of growth of entrepreneurship in the fisheries sector.
- Fisheries is an important sector in India. It provides employment for millions of people and contributes to the food security of the country.
- With a coastline of over 8,000 km, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 2 million sq km, and with extensive freshwater resources, fisheries play a vital role.
- The gross value addition of the fisheries and aquaculture sector during 2016-17 was Rs. 1,33,492 Crores which is about 0.96% of the National Gross Value Added (GVA) and 5.37% to the agricultural GVA (2016-17).
- During the year 2017-18, the country exported 13,77,244 tonnes fish and fisheries worth Rs. 45106.89 crore (7.08 billion US $).
- Presently India is the second largest fish producing and second largest aquaculture nation in the world after China. The total fish production during 2017-18 (provisional) is registered at 12.61 million metric tonnes (MMT) with a contribution of 8.92 MMT from inland sector and 3.69 MMT from marine sector.
- The marine fishery potential in the Indian waters have been estimated at 5.31 MMT constituting about 43.3% demersal, 49.5% pelagic and 4.3% oceanic groups.
- Marine Fisheries contributes to food security and provides direct employment to over 1.5 mn fisher people besides others indirectly dependent on the sector. There are 3,432 marine fishing villages and 1,537 notified fish landing centres in 9 maritime states and 2 union territories.
- According to the CMFRI Census 2010, the total marine fisherfolk population was about 4 million comprising 864,550 families. Nearly 61% of the fishermen families were under BPL category.
- The average family size was 4.63 and the overall sex ratio was 928 females per 1000 males. The Indian coastline can be delineated into 22 zones, based on the ecosystem structure and functions.
- The Indian boat type ranges from the traditional catamarans, masula boats, plank-built boats, dugout canoes, machwas, dhonis to the present-day motorized fibre-glass boats, mechanized trawlers and gillnetters.
- In the marine fisheries sector, there were 194,490 crafts in the fishery out of which 37% were mechanized, 37% were motorized and 26% were non-motorized.
- Out of a total of 167,957 crafts fully owned by fisherfolk 53% were non-motorized, 24% were motorized and 23% were mechanized. Among the mechanized crafts fully owned by fishermen, 29% were trawlers, 43% were gillnetters and 19% were Dol netters.
- Threat of sea borne terror – piracy and armed robbery, maritime terrorism, illicit trade in crude oil, arms, drug and human trafficking and smuggling of contraband etc.
- Natural Disasters – every year tsunamis, cyclones, hurricanes typhoons etc leave thousands of people stranded and property worth millions destroyed.
- Man-Made problems – Oil spills, climate change continue to risk the stability of the maritime domain.
- Impact of climate change – changes in sea temperature, acidity, threaten marine life, habitats, eutrophication, creation of Dead Zones and the communities that depend on them.
- Marine pollution – in the form of excess nutrients from untreated sewage, agricultural runoff, and marine debris such as plastics
- Overexploitation of marine resources – illegal, unreported, and unregulated extraction of marine resources.
- The United Nations Member States, including India, adopted 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, in 2015 as a universal call to take action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. SDG 14 seeks to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
- Several countries have undertaken initiatives to harness their blue economy. For instance, Australia, Brazil, United Kingdom, United States, Russia, and Norway have developed dedicated national ocean policies with measurable outcomes and budgetary provisions.
- Canada and Australia have enacted legislation and established hierarchal institutions at federal and state levels to ensure progress and monitoring of their blue economy targets.
- The IORA Indian Ocean Blue Carbon Hub aims to build knowledge and capacity relevant to protecting and restoring blue carbon ecosystems (which include mangroves, seagrasses and tidal marshes) throughout the Indian Ocean in a way that enhances livelihoods, reduces risks from natural disasters and helps mitigate climate change.
- Blue carbon ecosystems have an immense capacity to sequester carbon, a feature which makes them a good candidate for efforts to mitigate climate change. Indeed, the name reflects the high amount of organic carbon they contain. In addition, they support livelihoods in a variety of ways including through fisheries, and can reduce the effects of storms.
- The Indian Ocean contains a disproportionate amount of the world’s blue carbon ecosystems, and the nations of the Indian Ocean have an opportunity to lead the world in harnessing the benefits that they provide. The Hub seeks to support IORA Member States to do this through evidence-based actions.
- The objectives of the Hub include:
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- Providing a source of advice to, and expertise for, IORA Member States
- Engaging in and facilitating research that seeks to improve knowledge and provide evidence base for development of robust policy and finance mechanisms
- Establishing best practice and disseminating information about best practice
- Developing partnerships with organisations that can assist with implementation of activities that meet these objectives.
- Priority activities for the Hub include a think-tank series, a visiting fellowship program for early career professionals, and scientific expeditions. The think-tank series aims to convene leading thinkers, innovators and practitioners to address some of the most fundamental challenges preventing implementation of evidence-based policy. The first of these was held in Mauritius in February 2020, and focussed on finance.
- The Hub was announced by Australia’s Foreign Minister at the Third IORA Ministerial Blue Economy Conference, in Dhaka in September 2019. It is based at the Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre in Perth, Australia.
- Seychelles became the first country in the world to launch sovereign Blue Bonds.
- It is a debt instrument issued by governments, development banks etc to raise capital from investors to finance marine and ocean-based projects.
- It will help in expansion of marine protected areas, improved governance of priority fisheries and the development of the Seychelles’ blue economy.
- The blue bond is inspired by the green bond concept.
- Deep Ocean Mission: It was launched with an intention to develop technologies to harness the living and non-living resources from the deep-oceans.
- India-Norway Task Force on Blue Economy for Sustainable Development: It was inaugurated jointly by both the countries in 2020 to develop and follow up joint initiatives between the two countries.
- Sagarmala Project: The Sagarmala project is the strategic initiative for port-led development through the extensive use of IT enabled services for modernization of ports.
- O-SMART: India has an umbrella scheme by the name of O-SMART which aims at regulated use of oceans, marine resources for sustainable development.
- Integrated Coastal Zone Management: It focuses on conservation of coastal and marine resources, and improving livelihood opportunities for coastal communities etc.
- National Fisheries Policy: India has a National Fisheries policy for promoting 'Blue Growth Initiative' which focuses on sustainable utilization of fisheries wealth from marine and other aquatic resources.
- The number and type of educational programmes on both the traditional and emerging sectors of blue economy should be offered at universities and engineering/technical institutes for sustained supply of trainer personnel.
- The number of vocational training sectors and on-the-job training should be regularly conducted both in universities and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) to help disseminate knowledge at the local level
- The level of awareness of the number of employment opportunities in the blue economy and the future prospects needs to be increased both at the central and state level. This can be done by conducting frequent sessions with the target audience at both the school and university levels.
- The government should support in providing the required infrastructure for skill development in the blue economy sectors. This can be done financially by supporting the initiatives and programmes that focus on expanding human resources for the sectors of the blue economy.
- The world is looking towards oceans for a number of new emerging sectors and opportunities, but the success of these new sectors, in addition to traditional marine employment, would solely depend on oceans' health and long-term sustainability of their fragile ecosystems for which it is important to boost blue economy and deduce the right plan of action to create the right balance between economy and environment.
- The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), formerly known as the Indian Ocean Rim Initiative and the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), is an international organisation consisting of 23 states bordering the Indian Ocean.
- The IORA is a regional forum, tripartite in nature, bringing together representatives of Government, Business and Academia, for promoting co-operation and closer interaction among them.
- It is based on the principles of Open Regionalism for strengthening Economic Cooperation particularly on Trade Facilitation and Investment, Promotion as well as Social Development of the region.
- The Coordinating Secretariat of IORA is located at Ebene, Mauritius.
- The organisation was first established as Indian Ocean Rim Initiative in Mauritius on March 1995 and formally launched on 6–7 March 1997 by the conclusion of a multilateral treaty known as the Charter of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Co-operation.
- The idea is said to have taken root during a visit of former South African Foreign Minister, Pik Botha, to India in November 1993. It was cemented during the subsequent presidential visit of Nelson Mandela to India in January 1995.
- Consequently, an Indian Ocean Rim Initiative was formed by South Africa and India. Mauritius and Australia were subsequently brought in. In March 1997, the IOR-ARC was formally launched, with seven additional countries as members: Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Yemen, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique.
- The apex body of the IOR-ARC is the Council of (Foreign) Ministers (COM). The meeting of the COM is preceded by the meetings of the Indian Ocean Rim Academic Group (IORAG), Indian Ocean Rim Business Forum (IORBF), Working Group on Trade and Investment (WGTI), and the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO).
- To promote sustainable growth and balanced development of the region and member states
- To focus on those areas of economic cooperation which provide maximum opportunities for development, shared interest and mutual benefits
- To promote liberalisation, remove impediments and lower barriers towards a freer and enhanced flow of goods, services, investment, and technology within the Indian Ocean rim.
- Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) has identified six priority areas, namely:
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- maritime security,
- trade and investment facilitation,
- fisheries management,
- disaster risk reduction,
- academic and scientific cooperation and
- tourism promotion and cultural exchanges.
- In addition to these, two focus areas are also identified by IORA, namely Blue Economy and Women's Economic Empowerment.
- IORA members undertake projects for economic co-operation relating to trade facilitation and liberalisation, promotion of foreign investment, scientific and technological exchanges, tourism, movement of natural persons and service providers on a non-discriminatory basis; and the development of infrastructure and human resources, poverty alleviation, promotion of maritime transport and related matters, cooperation in the fields of fisheries trade, research and management, aquaculture, education and training, energy, IT, health, protection of the environment, agriculture, disaster management.
Findings of Minamata Convention (COP-4)
- The issue of Mercury Pollution is being discussed at the second round of the fourth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-4.2). The meeting is being held in-person from March 21-25 in Bali, with online participation.
- The non-binding declaration calls upon parties to:
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- Develop practical tools and notification and information-sharing systems for monitoring and managing trade in mercury
- Exchange experiences and practices relating to combating illegal trade in mercury, including reducing the use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining
- Share examples of national legislation and data and information related to such trade
- The declaration has undergone two out of three written consulting stages and is widely expected to be adopted at the conclusion of the summit.
- The Government of Indonesia as well as the United Nations have sought support and commitment from parties to the Minamata Convention for a Bali Declaration on combatting Global Illegal Trade of Mercury.
- Indonesia was one of the most-affected countries due to illegal trade in mercury in ASGM (Artisanal and Gold Mining). So, the country found it necessary to work together with others to combat the illegal trade in mercury, given its transboundary nature and obvious negative impacts of mercury use on both humans and the environment.
- Globally, 10-20 million people work in the ASGM sector and many of them use mercury on a daily basis. As a result, 838 tonnes of mercury were being released into the air in 2015 by ASGM alone, making the sector the largest contributor to anthropogenic mercury emissions, according to the most recent estimates by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
- Mercury (Hg) is a global pollutant that affects human and ecosystem health.
- Exposure to mercury threatens our health, with many often-irreversible toxic effects. Developing foetuses and young children are most at risk. Mercury pollution also harms wildlife and ecosystems.
- Mercury occurs naturally in the earth’s crust, but human activities, such as mining and fossil fuel combustion, have led to widespread global mercury pollution.
- Mercury emitted into the air eventually settles into water or onto land where it can be washed into water. Once deposited, certain microorganisms can change it into methylmercury, a highly toxic form that builds up in fish, shellfish and animals that eat fish.
- Most human exposure to mercury is from eating fish and shellfish contaminated with methylmercury, both in the United States and worldwide.
- Almost all people in the world have at least trace amounts of methylmercury in their tissues, reflecting its pervasive presence in the environment. Some communities eat significantly more fish than the general population, and thus may be exposed to much greater mercury contamination than the general population.
- It is estimated that more than 75,000 newborns in the United States each year may have increased risk of learning disabilities associated with in-utero exposure to methylmercury.
- Highly toxic to the nervous system
- Persistent in the environment
- Bioaccumulates (higher concentrations in tissues of aquatic plants and animals than in water)
- Biomagnifies (higher concentrations at increasingly higher levels in the food chain)
- Numerous chemical forms in air, water, sediment, and biota
- Natural sources of mercury include volcanic eruptions and emissions from the ocean. Anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions include mercury that is released from fuels or raw materials, or from uses in products or industrial processes.
- About 30% of mercury in the atmosphere comes from natural sources such as volcanoes or forest fires. But 70% of the mercury is a result of human activities, including the mining of mercury ores, the use of this mercury in products and manufacturing, and the incidental release of trace concentrations of mercury naturally present in limestone, coal, crude oil, and metal ores such as taconite.
- Some of the mercury circulating through today's environment was released years ago. Land, water, and other surfaces can repeatedly re-emit mercury into the atmosphere after its initial release into the environment. We know that anthropogenic emissions continue to add significantly to the global pool of mercury.
- More than 95 percent of all mercury in fish is methylmercury, and this form of mercury biomagnifies to high concentrations at the top of food chains.
- Globally, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is the largest source of anthropogenic mercury emissions (37.7%), followed by stationary combustion of coal (21%). Other large sources of emissions are non-ferrous metals production (15%) and cement production (11%).
- Estimates of annual global mercury emissions from anthropogenic sources are approximately 2220 metric tons per year. These estimates include mercury that is re-emitted.
- When mercury is deposited in lakes or waterways, bacteria convert it to methyl mercury. Methyl mercury accumulates in algae and is eaten by smaller fish, which in turn are eaten by larger fish. Fish at the top of the aquatic food chain, such as walleye, can have methyl mercury concentrations as high as 130,000 times that of the surrounding water.
- Unfortunately, the mercury in fish also concentrates in the tissue of any human or wildlife eating the fish. If contaminated fish are eaten on a regular basis, mercury concentrations can become high enough to become a serious health threat to humans. Several Great Lakes states issue advisories each year, cautioning people to limit the number of fish they eat from area lakes.
- In natural waters, inorganic mercury is generally not a health concern. The real issue is methylmercury, an organic form that is highly toxic to the nervous system. Methylmercury is produced from inorganic mercury by methylation, a microbial process that is controlled by certain bacteria and enhanced by chemical and environmental variables, such as the presence of organic matter and the absence of oxygen.
- Mercury gets into lakes from the atmosphere, where it falls with rain or snow into the watersheds that feed the lakes. Approximately one gram of mercury enters a 20-acre lake each year. Over time, just this small amount can contaminate the fish in that lake, making them unfit to eat on a regular basis.
- Minamata disease is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech.
- In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma, and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. A congenital form of the disease can also affect foetuses in the womb and may cause cerebral palsy.
- Minamata disease was first discovered in the city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, in 1956, hence its name. It was caused by the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from a chemical factory owned by the Chisso Corporation, which continued from 1932 to 1968.
- It has also been suggested that some of the mercury sulfate in the wastewater was also metabolized to methylmercury by bacteria in the sediment. This highly toxic chemical bioaccumulated and biomagnified in shellfish and fish in Minamata Bay and the Shiranui Sea, which, when eaten by the local population, resulted in mercury poisoning.
- While cat, dog, pig, and human deaths continued for 36 years, Chisso and the Kumamoto prefectural government did little to prevent the epidemic. The animal effects were severe enough in cats that they came to be named as having "dancing cat fever".
- The Minamata Convention on Mercury is the most recent global agreement on environment and health. It was adopted in 2013 and entered into force August 16, 2017.
- Some 137 parties or countries from Africa, Asia-Pacific, eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, western Europe and other regions have been working together to control the supply and trade of mercury, reduce the use, emissions and release of mercury, raise public awareness and build necessary institutional capacity since 2017.
- The Minamata Convention draws attention to a global and ubiquitous metal that, while naturally occurring, has broad uses in everyday objects and is released to the atmosphere, soil and water from a variety of sources. Controlling the anthropogenic releases of mercury throughout its lifecycle has been a key factor in shaping the obligations under the Convention.
- Major highlights of the Minamata Convention include a ban on new mercury mines, the phase-out of existing ones, the phase-out and phase-down of mercury use in a number of products and processes, control measures on emissions to air and on releases to land and water, and the regulation of the informal sector of artisanal and small-scale gold mining. The Convention also addresses interim storage of mercury and its disposal once it becomes waste, sites contaminated by mercury as well as health issues.
- Since the entry into force of the Minamata Convention in August 2017, the COP held its first meeting in September 2017, its second meeting in November 2018 and its third meeting from 25 to 29 November 2019 in Geneva.
- Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation, its fourth meeting is currently being organized in two segments: a first segment was conducted online within the period of 1 to 5 November 2021 and a second segment is to be conducted in-person within the period of 21 to 25 March 2022 in Bali, Indonesia. Subsequent ordinary meetings of the COP will be every two years.
- At its first meeting, amongst others, the COP adopted the Rules of Procedure under which it would operate. It also adopted Financial Rules for itself and any of its subsidiary bodies, as well as financial provisions governing the functioning of the secretariat of the Convention. Both the rules of procedure and the financial rules included outstanding text that was considered further by the COP at its third meeting.
- The COP is supported in its work by a Bureau, consisting of a President and nine Vice-Presidents, one of whom acting as Rapporteur. Since COP2, Bureau members commence their term at the closure of the meeting at which they are elected until the closure of the following ordinary meeting of the COP.
- Each of the five UN regional groups is represented by two Bureau members, elected from among the representatives of the Parties present at the meeting.
- The Minamata Convention also establishes as a subsidiary body of the COP an Implementation and Compliance Committee, which, as per article 15, aims to promote the implementation of, and review compliance with, all the provisions of the Convention. The chair of the Committee is a member ex-officio of the COP Bureau.
- The Minamata Convention on Mercury, under Article 13, sets up a financial mechanism to support developing country Parties and Parties with economies in transition in implementing their obligations under the Convention. The Mechanism is composed of:
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- The Global Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF)
- The Specific International Programme (SIP) to support capacity-building and technical assistance.
- The relation between the GEF and the COP is defined by a Memorandum of Understanding that was agreed by both the COP and the GEF Council. In carrying out its role as part of the Convention's Financial Mechanism, the GEF operates under the guidance of the Conference of the Parties (COP) regarding overall strategies, policies, programme priorities and eligibility for access to and utilization of financial resources.
- COP guidance to the GEF, which includes an indicative list of categories of activities that could receive support, was adopted at COP1 in 2017, and can be found in the decision MC-1/5.
- The GEF’s funding for mercury has been provided to developing countries and countries with economies in transition to prepare Minamata Initial Assessments (MIAs) and artisanal and small-scale gold mining (AGSM) National Action Plans (NAPs), and to undertake projects designed to support implementation of particular articles of the Convention.
- Some GEF projects are carried out under broader programmatic approaches, such as the PlanetGOLD program to support the transition away from mercury use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. PlanetGOLD has projects in eight countries and a powerful knowledge management component to foster the sustainability and scaling up of project results.
- The GEF ISLANDS (Implementing Sustainable and Low and Non-Chemical Development in SIDS) program will work in 30 Small Island Developing States to manage the growing impacts of chemicals and wastes on their environments, including management of at least 38 metric tons of mercury from products, health care and other use sectors.
- The Specific International Programme was set up to deliver direct capacity building and technical assistance to developing-country Parties and Parties with economies in transition as they implement their obligations under the Convention.
- The COP agreed to Terms of Reference for the SIP and establishment of its Governing Board at COP1 decision MC-1/6 and updated at COP2 in decision MC-2/11.
- The Secretariat manages the project submission, screening and appraisal process for each SIP round, while the SIP Governing Board reviews project submissions and allocates available funding to selected projects.
- Governments, the private sector, foundations, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, academia, and civil society actors can contribute to the SIP through the Specific Trust Fund managed by the Secretariat.
- Eligible Parties can also seek support from the Special Programme managed by UN Environment’s Chemicals and Waste Branch, which is designed to enhance sustained institutional capacity to develop, adopt, monitor and enforce policy, legislation and regulation for effective frameworks for the implementation of the Minamata Convention, the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions and the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).
- The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2015 to guide the work of the United Nations for the next 15 years.
- The 2030 Agenda places people at its core and aims to achieve a rights-based sustainable development under a renewed global partnership, in which all countries participate at an equal footing.
- The SDGs aim to meet the dual challenge of overcoming poverty and protecting the planet. They highlight a comprehensive vision of sustainable development that embraces economic, social and environmental dimensions.
- The Minamata Convention on Mercury, as a Multilateral Environmental Agreement with the aim to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury, is compliant with the agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development acknowledging States’ respective circumstances and capabilities and the need for global action.
- Each of us must do our part to keep mercury out of the environment. Make sure you buy mercury-free products whenever you can, such as mercury-free thermometers, heating/cooling thermostats, other types of switches and relays, and barometers and manometers.
- Make sure that you recycle mercury-containing products and bulk mercury; households can contact the local household hazardous waste collection program.
- A few products require mercury to function, such as fluorescent and high-intensity-discharge lighting. These lights are still good choices environmentally and economically because they are highly energy efficient, which means they require less power generated by coal-burning power plants that release large amounts of mercury into the atmosphere. By using and then recycling these items properly, we can minimize overall releases of mercury to the environment from human activities.
- Efforts by manufacturers of mercury-containing products, government programs, and solid waste management facilities have significantly reduced mercury entering the environment from products that contain it. For example, Hennepin County programs to keep mercury out of the waste stream, together with pollution control equipment on the county's waste-to-energy plant, have brought mercury emission levels down from 496 pounds in 1990 to less than 21 pounds in 2000, a reduction of over 95%.
- Alternatives to the use of mercury dental amalgams already exist and are being used in some Nordic Member States. It is estimated that less than 6% of all new fillings in Sweden now contain mercury. Replacing mercury as a dental filling material would be far easier and less costly than applying technologies to reduce crematoria emissions from dental amalgams.
- Electronic thermometers may be more expensive; however, as glass thermometers often break, they may ultimately be comparable in cost.
- Sphygmomanometers are an area of concern because they contain a large amount of mercury per device (80 – 100 g/unit compared to 1 g/unit for thermometers), and therefore pose a greater hazard in the event of a breakage. Both mercury and aneroid sphygmomanometers have been in use for about 100 years. All types of sphygmomanometers require maintenance and calibration to give accurate results.
- In Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands, only positive experiences have been reported from the use of the mercury-free devices. And finally, mercury-free sphygmomanometers can greatly reduce the risk of mercury exposure to patients, staff, and leakage into the environment.
- The Minamata Convention is a powerful tool in our collective effort to rid the planet of toxic substances. It is essential to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. The impact of the Convention resonates beyond mercury. As the world negotiates the plastics agreement, Minamata will undoubtedly serve as an inspiration.
About Urban Agriculture in India
- Urban agriculture is the practice of farming in urban and peri-urban areas. Farming connotes a wide range of food and non-food products that can be cultivated or grown, including rearing livestock, aquaculture and bee-keeping.
- However, in the context of Indian cities, the focus is on the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, and flowers for human consumption. It is now part of a growing trend in cities globally to look towards locally produced food.
- Besides city administrations, urban agriculture has started drawing the attention of many non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community groups, and citizens. At the global level, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) believes urban and peri-urban agriculture has a role in food and nutritional security.
- The Urban Food Agenda is a FAO flagship initiative to enhance sustainable development, food security, and nutrition in urban and peri-urban areas. It encourages partnerships with different stakeholders such as civil society, academia, international agencies, city entities, and the private sector.
- In several countries, community organisations and individual city residents, facilitated by city administrations, have taken up small-scale agricultural activities on private and public lands.
- In Paris, peri-urban agriculture accounts for about 35 percent of the regional crop deliveries in value, mainly in the form of vegetables, flowers, and fruits.
- Producers usually sell their produce directly to Parisians or at local markets. In Greater London, there are 13,566 hectares of farmland of which 500 hectares are under fruit and vegetable cultivation.
- Moreover, 800 hectares of public land is used for market gardening. Cities in Russia, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Israel, and many cities in Latin America and Africa also practice urban agriculture.
- One example which is always quoted while discussing initiatives on urban agriculture is the success story of Havana, Cuba. After the Cuban communist party came to power in 1960 and till 1989, Cuba was importing most of its food, devoting most of its agricultural land to the cultivation of sugarcane.
- Soviet Union paid premium price for the sugar imported from Cuba in the form of food, petroleum, machinery and other goods supplied to Cuba in return. But the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 led to severe food shortages in Cuba and with no access to food, petroleum, machinery and fertilisers Cuba had to quickly transform itself from an import dependant nation to a food self- sufficient nation.
- The main reason for the success of the world’s first co-ordinated urban agricultural programme other than the fact that it was a necessity at that time was the complete support provided by the government with favourable policies and institutions playing a pivotal role in spearheading the urban agricultural revolution.
- We also have examples of such agricultural pursuits in many cities in India. However, in the context of India, it is worthwhile understanding the limitations that this activity would get subjected to.
- The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) estimated that in 2012-13, around 95 million hectares of land were used for agricultural production in India.
- In percentage terms, the World Bank data puts the country’s agricultural area at 60.4 percent of the country’s physical geography.
- India’s total urban area has been estimated at around 222,688 square kilometres which is about 6.77 percent of India’s geographical area. This small area accounts for around 35 percent of the country’s population.
- In India urban agriculture is being carried out in many cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai under the leadership of government, private agencies or even individuals. An important factor that needs to be mentioned in this context is the use of treated or untreated waste water for agriculture.
- In cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad direct and indirect use of waste water in urban and peri-urban agriculture is widespread. While the use of untreated wastewater for irrigation is not allowed for public health reasons it is being used in many places for want of access to fresh water.
- It is also proven that yields are higher with the use of untreated domestic waste water for irrigation owing to the presence of nitrates. There are recent initiatives to sell treated waste water to farmers in Delhi, Noida, Hyderabad and Chennai. Treated sewage is sold in Chennai and there is increasing demand for the same.
- The Noida authority uses treated waste water for irrigating some green belts and has plans to undertake tertiary treatment to treat waste water to potable standards. In Hyderabad farmers lift domestic effluent from the Musi River for irrigation purposes.
- The use of waste water in urban agriculture not only reduces demand for fresh water but also helps close the loop in urban water management, provided the wastewater is treated to safe standards for preventing environmental pollution.
- The urban population in India which stands at 377 million is expected to grow by 404 million by 2050. The nutritional requirements of this increased urban population have to be met. Also, with growing affluence and increasing nutritional awareness among the city dwellers about nutrition, there will be increased demand for vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat, dairy products and even flowers.
- The direct consumption of food grains has decreased while the demand for food products higher up in the food chain, especially processed food, has gone up in recent years.
- On the other hand, about 65.5 million people live in urban slums and sprawls which lead to intra generational nutritional inequality. As pointed out by the “Report on the state of food security in urban India” by the M. S. Swaminathan research foundation the situation in urban areas is often overlooked during discussions on food and nutrition security.
- There is considerable food and nutritional insecurity in the urban areas, the situation being worse in smaller towns. Especially vulnerable are women and children; about 50% of the women are anaemic, and undernourishment resulting in severe energy deficiency is rampant among women.
- People living in urban areas have much less control over the supply and quality of the food they consume as compared to the rural population. The food prices, especially those of vegetables, fruits and pulses, which heavily influence the quantum of their intake, are often subject to huge fluctuations due to many factors ranging from the vagaries of the monsoon to spread of diseases to the changes in price of crude oil in the international market and to the changes in policies governing import and export of agricultural commodities.
- They also have no control over the use of pesticides and other chemicals used in producing the food, which has serious implications for nutritional value and safety of the food consumed. Instances where farmers grow organic food for their own consumption and insecticide laden produce for sale have been reported.
- Use of chemicals to increase shelf life of the produce is also prevalent. The prevalence of cancer in India is expected to increase from an estimated 3.9 million in 2015 to an estimated 7.1 million people by 2020.
- Urban agriculture will go a long way in addressing these concerns to a great extent. It can provide fresh produce to city dwellers without the need for resource intensive transportation, refrigeration and storage facilities, by reducing the time and distance from farm to fork.
- UA has a significant role in urban environmental management as it can combat urban heat island effects and function as an urban lung in addition to providing visual appeal. The Food and Agricultural Organization has long since recognized Urban Agriculture as a key element in food security strategies. However formal recognition of UA and its integration into the urban planning process is necessary for it to be successful.
- Organic waste from the city can be composted and used in urban agriculture with the added advantage of reducing waste that is dumped on land. FAO reports that extensive farming in Havana led to the near elimination of local refuse dumps for household waste. There is also great interest in organic farming in many quarters.
- However, the scale of the UA efforts has not been sufficient to make a substantial difference to food and nutritional security in the urban areas. There is a need to undertake planning towards achieving this goal. Crucial to this is the research-based knowledge about the set of conditions under which urban agriculture becomes viable.
- If we use the traditional benchmark of 50 square meters per person for fruits and vegetables, a total of 222 million urbanites could be served by cultivation in the above cited area of 11,134 sq km. Such small-scale decentralised production can also be done to supplement diets at household or community level.
- Furthermore, it has local employment value. Being labour-intensive, it can add to the number of jobs and improve livelihood opportunities in the cities and generate some income, especially for the poor.
- Urban agriculture has a significant role in urban environmental management as it can combat urban heat island effects and function as an urban lung in addition to providing visual appeal. Additionally, it brings purposeful recreation that has a direct impact on city health.
- Urban agriculture helps city-dwellers to establish links with nature and educate them in its richness and diversity. Urban thinkers have been worried about the disconnect of urbanites with nature and have been looking at ways by which that interrelationship could be re-established.
- Urban agriculture provides a fine opportunity for such engagement and eco-cultural learning. It also helps to develop community bonds and a sense of sharing through community agriculture where people come together and share their stories about their experiences in growing a variety of food.
- To cover different age groups, pedagogic farms aimed at different age groups and types of people and interests have proved extremely useful. The range of positivity that urban agriculture brings into the urban situation is quite remarkable.
- Since cities are struggling with waste management and disposal, urban agriculture can provide some help to deal with it. The use of suitably treated waste water for urban agriculture can reduce demand for fresh water and help in wastewater disposal.
- Moreover, organic waste from the city can be composted and used in food and flower production that can reduce the total quantum of waste and its dumping on land, thereby reducing the requirement of landfills. It is one of the most advisable forms of waste recycling for cities of the future.
- The main issue with urban agriculture is the availability of land for cultivation. In fast-growing large cities where there is no more free space available, setting aside land for agricultural use is not feasible. Even where some free land is available the price can be so high that it is not possible for people to acquire the land for farming purposes.
- In the process, the area under agriculture reduces. In many instances farmers have become labourers and farmland has become unaffordable to farmers in peri urban areas and even in villages. Some of them have sold their land to builders and live off rental income from apartments constructed on their land. Hence, it is not possible to buy agricultural land in peri urban areas and undertake farming as a profitable venture. Even the farmers who continue with agriculture and the new entrants would rather go in for high value cash crops than staples.
- Large water requirement for crop production is another major hurdle for urban agriculture. Cities in India are struggling to meet the fresh water requirements of its residents for human needs. In many cities the utilities are able to provide only a fraction of the water requirements of its residents. The balance is met through wells drilled in the owners’ own premises or purchased from private tanker water suppliers who charge a large sum of money.
- Indiscriminate use of ground water for farming will lead to falling water tables thereby undermining the water security of the city. A majority of Indian cities are not located in water abundant regions. Due to encroachment of tanks and ponds and diversions of water most tanks and ponds in these cities have already dried up.
- Others are heavily polluted with waste and sewage and hence unusable. In many urban areas around the world including humid regions aquifers are getting depleted as pumping takes place within small geographical areas creating "cones of depression".
- Improper and excessive use of pesticides and fertilisers in farming can pollute the soil and water in urban areas.
- Another point to be mentioned is that organic farming is more successful where there are a larger proportion of small-scale farmers taking to it, as large-scale farmers are not willing in most cases to switch to organic farming. Though organic farming produces food with minimum harm to the ecosystem, animals and humans, critics have always argued that the yield from organic farming is considerably less than that from conventional farming.
- Levels of pollution in cities are higher than in rural areas in the soil, water and air. Emissions from factories and automobiles lead to the presence of heavy metals and other toxic chemicals in water, soil and air while untreated and partially treated sewage led to the presence of pathogens. This exposes the people who work in urban farms and to a lesser extent the consumers of the produce to health risks.
- In earlier days, houses used to have kitchen gardens and fruit trees which at least catered partially to the needs of the family. These days most houses and apartments in cities do not have much free space around them. Even houses and housing societies that have some cultivable land undertake landscaping that involves non edible vegetation that emphasizes beauty rather than utility.
- The problem with sewage treatment plants is that they are expensive to set up and run and need space too. In most cases due to space constraints, it is not possible to locate them in such places as would facilitate the productive use of the treated water.
- Unplanned urbanization has led to serious problems in India. For example, the unrealistic concentrated developmental activities in Bengaluru would make the region GHG-rich, water-scarce, non-resilient and unliveable, depriving the city dwellers of clean air, water and environment. There has been a tenfold increase in paved area, 88% reduction in vegetation, 79% decline in wetlands, high increase in air pollution, huge increase in city traffic and steep decline in the depth of the water table from 1973 to 2016.
- The high price their land would fetch on selling compared to the meagre amount they make from farming makes them sell the land and exit agriculture. This is where the government can step in to ensure that some land is set aside for farming purposes wherever feasible.
- Steps should be taken to stop speculative buying and illegal conversion of agricultural land. Strong enforcement of planning norms in the urban and peri urban areas is needed to prevent illegal conversion of agricultural land. It can also impose tax on vacant plots and houses to prevent unproductive use of land.
- Setting up schemes for leasing vacant plots for cultivation and encouraging the use of roof tops and backyards of houses and apartments as well as premises of schools and other institutions for farming are some of the ways space can be found for urban farming.
- Homeowners with space in their backyards or rooftops where they want to farm but are unable to do so themselves must be connected with people willing to grow food there for a fee. For example, in Canada the ‘Sharing Backyards’ project connects homeowners who have a yard with people who want to grow food but do not own any land.
- Using grey water and treated waste water for irrigation, a manifold increase in water productivity in agriculture as well as using lower quality water unfit for drinking for farming are the solutions to water scarcity problems.
- Farmers in Chennai have already been buying treated waste water and farmers along the Musi River in Hyderabad use the water from the river which is mostly effluent let into it by apartments, houses and industries. Israel uses saline water and recycled sewage water for agriculture and has been conducting research on varieties and species of plants that are salt-tolerant and resistant to soil pathogens and on using grafted vegetable plants wherein a susceptible scion is grafted onto a resistant root stock.
- Organic farming is the answer to the problem of excessive use of pesticides. The state of Sikkim has been declared fully organic in 2016. Mizoram too is expected to become a fully organic state soon while Orissa is taking to organic farming in a big way.
- Suitable checks and precautions need to be exercised to prevent diseases triggered or produced by pollutants and toxic chemicals.
- Builders, housing societies and individual owners must be encouraged and given technical support to include edible plants and fruit trees as part of their landscaping. Tax incentives can also be given to housing colonies and apartments to undertake landscaping that includes fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, etc.
- Institutional support is crucial for the farmers to get access to necessary resources. UA became extensively practiced in Havana because food availability declined by as much as 60% and residents had to produce their own food.
- Looking at the various cities in India where Urban Agriculture is popular it can be seen that there are no regional trends or pattern with regard to the practice of UA. Before undertaking UA in any city, a preliminary survey regarding the need for and interest for it among the residents has to be conducted.
- Once a strong interest has been identified the availability of resources including the need to set up waste water treatment facilities, composting facilities, etc has to be looked into. Identifying the sections of residents who are seriously interested in farming and providing them with support will ensure the success of the project.
- Availability of resources, namely land, water for irrigation and support services including garden supplies, expert advice and microcredit, are the prerequisites for success in urban agriculture.
- The government can take steps to allot land for community gardens and introduce measures to free up empty plots for lease for urban farming and make them available for landless farmers. The optimum utilization of land in a city cannot be effective without help from the authorities.
- Projects that bring together people who own land or have spacious backyards with people willing to work on them are needed. Landowners fearful of losing their land rights let their land lie fallow rather than allow informal cultivation by landless farmers.
- There should be a proper legal framework to lease or rent farmland. In and around cities agricultural land is being indiscriminately converted into non- agricultural land sometimes illegally without the permission of the revenue department. Proper zoning laws for cities with legal protection for areas earmarked for urban agriculture is necessary.
- Almost 80% of the water used by urban dwellers ends up as waste water, cities do not have the facilities to treat the waste water and reuse it. In most cases only a part of the wastewater is treated and the untreated and partially treated sewage enters the rivers and lakes in the cities polluting them and making them unfit for use for any purpose.
- There is an urgent need to find ways of treating the waste water in order to close the loop and also to meet the cities’ water demands. While it may not be possible to use the treated water for domestic consumption it can be used to advantage in urban agriculture. If free of pathogens, heavy metals and toxic chemicals the water with some nutrients left in it is beneficial for growing crops.
- Considering the amount of space and money needed to set up large scale centralized sewage treatment plants, the possibilities for setting up small decentralized sewage treatment plants need to be explored and the necessary laws passed for implementing the same.
- Grey water can be used without much treatment for irrigation. This will also help reduce the load on sewage treatment plants. The Centre for Science and Environment has reviewed and documented select case studies that present innovative, sustainable and affordable ways of treating the sewage locally including reuse/recycle.
- It is mandatory for building sites over a particular area to have their own sewage treatment plants in some cities like Bengaluru. Micro irrigation techniques can also be used to reduce the water demand for urban agriculture.
- Once land and water are available, projects to convert bio degradable waste from the city into compost for use as fertilizer, making available good quality seeds and organic insecticides, providing the necessary knowhow and expert advice as well as provision for microcredit will lead to the success of urban agriculture.
- There is an urgent need to prevent our cities, whose population is increasing day by day, from becoming dysfunctional. Urban planning policies in India have traditionally focused on development of infrastructure and land.
- It has mainly been concerned with constructing buildings and roads without incorporating the concepts of social justice or environmental sustainability with the result that our cities have become centres of urban poverty and environmental degradation. Our urban planning policies should take a holistic approach towards our cities.
- Steps towards recycling solid waste and waste water, reducing pollution and increasing the green cover with an emphasis on urban food production in our cities will help make our cities more sustainable.
- They can make some of the unutilised public lands that are not likely to be brought under development in the near future available for urban agriculture.
- These can be leased to private parties through an agreement with mutually beneficial terms and conditions. Indian cities have preferred open spaces to carry ornamental vegetation.
- However, to promote urban agriculture, public spaces can partly have edible landscapes. Trees can be fruit bearing trees and vegetables could be grown in raised beds, containers, or vertical frames.
- Furthermore, the civic bodies could zone lands for urban agriculture in their development/master plans for a period during which they are not likely to be pressed into service for other purposes. Ways should be found of incentivising such activities without financially burdening ULB revenue streams.
- Likewise, wherever private plots are kept undeveloped and in disuse and not put to agriculture use, a vacant plot tax can be imposed on such plots as a disincentive. Alternately, if such plots are used for urban agriculture, they should be incentivised in innovative ways.
- The ULBs can provide technology extension services through soil and water testing laboratories. Additionally, ULBs could provide standards for use of terraces, balconies, open spaces within private/cooperative housing society compounds for urban agricultural use.
- Rooftop farming is a huge possibility. Singapore, for instance, is already producing about 10 percent of its food through rooftop farming. In heavily populated cities, where availability of land is a constraint, a different approach may be needed to overcome the scarcity of urban space for urban agriculture including developing technologies for vertical farming.
- We are already aware that the forces of climate change are throwing up huge challenges, including floods and heat waves. Besides, droughts in the countryside are likely to trigger greater migration to cities. In this background, a vital addition to municipal functions should be urban agriculture. Similarly, urban planning would require to include urban agriculture as a planning item in its land use plan. The future beckons that urban agriculture does not merely remain a marginal esoteric interest but a critical urban function.
Genesis:
- The possibility of developing power from the Mekedatu project has been under examination since 1948 when Kollegal territory was a part of the Madras Presidency.
- However, this project wasn’t examined till the reorganization of the States in the year 1956.
- After 1956, initially, this project was investigated by the Hydro-Electric Project Investigation Department of GoM and then on by the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) from the year 1986 onwards.
- KPCL prepared a report titled “Mekedatu Hydroelectric Project – Project Report” in July 1996.
- However, further consideration of the same got delayed at that time, directing the Government of Karnataka to wait for the Award of the Hon’ble Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT).
- The subject of sharing of the waters was adjudicated by the Hon’ble Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT).
- Mekedatu is a location along Kaveri at the border of Chamarajanagar and Ramanagara Districts. From this point, about 3.5 kilometers downstream, the river Kaveri flows through a deep and narrow gorge.
- Mekedatu' means 'goat's leap' in Kannada. The name comes from an event which is believed to have been witnessed by herdsmen in that area a long time ago.
- The project will actually come up at Ontigondlu, about 1.5 km from what is known as Mekedatu (literal meaning, goat's leap), at the confluence of Cauvery and Arkavathi rivers, about 90 km southwest of Bengaluru and 4 km from the Tamil Nadu border.
- The project was first announced in 2013 by the then law minister T B Jayachandra during the Congress government.
- It's primarily aimed at supplying 4.75 tmcf (thousand million cubic feet) of drinking water to Bengaluru and surrounding areas but will also generate 400 MW of hydroelectric power.
- For this, Karnataka wants to construct a concrete gravity dam at Mekedatu with a storage capacity of 67.16 tmcft.
- To provide a drinking water facility to Bengaluru Metropolitan Region, and its adjoining area by way of proposing a scheme to tap water from the foreshore of the intended Mekedatu project by utilising the additional 4.75 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of water.
- To harness nearly 400 MW of renewable energy (hydroelectric power) annually by Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Limited (CNNL).
- To regulate the required quantum of water to Tamil Nadu on a monthly basis to store the floodwaters and prevent it from escaping to sea as it happened in the monsoon of 2018.
- The project requires a total of 5,252 hectares of land. Of this, about 4,996 hectares will be submerged while the actual dam will be constructed in the remaining 256 hectares.
- Of the total land required, 3,181 hectares fall in the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, 1,869 hectares in a reserve forest and 201 hectares is revenue land.
- While the project was previously estimated to cost Rs 5,000 crore, the cost has now escalated to Rs 9,000 crore.
- And considering that the project has still not been approved by the central government, the actual cost will likely go up further depending on when the final approvals come.
- If the reservoir is constructed, Tamil Nadu fears, Karnataka will hoard water in the dam, thereby cheating it of its share of the Cauvery water.
- The neighbouring state has argued that as per the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, Karnataka cannot build the dam without the consent of the lower riparian state, which is Tamil Nadu in this case.
- Other than opposition from Tamil Nadu, green activists have questioned the environmental price of the project. A major chunk of the land that will be submerged by the dam will be of the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary area, which is a key elephant corridor.
- The sanctuary is also home to many endangered wildlife species. The sanctuary also acts as a buffer area for wildlife animals such as tigers in the nearby MM Hills and BR Hills. Activists fear that the loss of this space will only lead to more man-animal conflict.
- The project would submerge 5,500 hectares of prime forest, of which 3,500 hectares are in the Cauvery wildlife sanctuary. These forests have been helping in the infiltration of water to an extent of about 90-100 TMC.
- Forest ecosystems provide services to an extent of Rs 7 to 8 lakhs per hectare per year (provisioning, regulating and cultural services). These ecosystems sequester carbon and minimise greenhouse gas (GHG) footprints. The government should take up sustainable options at decentralised levels and refrain from further degrading our ecosystems.
- Bengaluru is facing water scarcity as well as oxygen deficiency due to 1,055 per cent increase in concrete areas with 88% loss of vegetation cover and 79% loss of waterbodies. This has drastically reduced the water infiltration and water retention capability, evident from depleting groundwater levels in the city.
- For example, removal of a lake in the Nagashettihalli region in the 1980s led to the depletion of groundwater table from 100 feet to 600 feet in just five years and today, people have dug wells up to 1,900 feet and still there is no water
- The Karnataka government has maintained that it is well within its rights to construct the dam as long as it makes sure that Tamil Nadu gets its annual share of water as prescribed by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. And since the dam will come up within Karnataka, the state is not violating any law, officials argue.
- More than that, the state sees Mekedatu as an opportunity to supply sufficient water to meet the ever-growing needs of Bengaluru and the surrounding districts. There is also an acute power shortage, Karnataka has told the Centre. The state also hopes that the dam will boost tourism in the area.
- Bangalore receives an annual rainfall of 700 to 850 mm which amounts to 15 TMC, while water requirement for Bangalore is 18 TMC, which means 70 per cent of water required for Bangalore is available in the form of rain. The best options are rooftop harvesting, which the government needs to make mandatory, and the next best option is to rejuvenate lakes and retain rainwater in lakes so that groundwater sources have clean water.
- The recharge well is also a very powerful tool to manage groundwater, especially when we talk about a city like Bengaluru. These wells help in controlling urban floods, among others. It also helps in the revival of the shallow unconfined aquifer which has been the city’s source of domestic water. Moreover, the statistics of the groundwater table should be released frequently so that people realise that we do not have unlimited natural resources.
- Disagreement between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the waters of the Cauvery go back to a time when they did not even exist as the political entities that we know today.
- It was in 1892 that a dispute began between the erstwhile Presidency of Madras, which was under British rule, and the princely state of Mysore over the latter's proposed move to build irrigation systems on the Cauvery.
- The fear then was the same as it is now, that the upstream state would corner the lion's share of the water and leave the downstream state in jeopardy, threatening its farmers.
- Finally, in 1924, an agreement is reached paving the way for the construction of the Krishnaraja Sagar dam and spelling out what the different states' allocations would be as regards the Cauvery waters.
- The agreement is given a 50-year timeline and, following its lapse, the dispute gets a new lease of life with Tamil Nadu approaching the Centre seeking the setting up of a tribunal to decide the allocation of water between the states.
- The tribunal was set up in 1990 and made its final award in 2007, granting 419 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu, 270 tmcft to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala and 7 tmcft to Puducherry. The tribunal ordered that in rain-scarcity years, the allocation for all would stand reduced.
- However, both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka expressed unhappiness over the allocation and there were protests and violence in both states over water-sharing. That saw the Supreme Court take up the matter and, in a 2018 judgment, it apportioned 14.75 tmcft from Tamil Nadu's earlier share to Karnataka.
- The new allocation thus stood at 404.25 tmcft for Tamil Nadu while Karnataka's share went up to 284.75 tmcft. The share for Kerala and Puducherry remained unchanged.
- As the river originates in Karnataka, flows through Tamil Nadu with major tributaries coming from Kerala and drains into Bay of Bengal through Pondicherry the dispute therefore involves 3 states and one Union Territory.
- The genesis of the dispute is 150 years old and dates back to the two agreements of arbitration in 1892 and 1924 between the then Madras presidency and Mysore.
- It entailed the principle that the upper riparian state must obtain consent of lower riparian state for any construction activity viz. reservoir on the river Cauvery.
- From 1974, Karnataka started diverting water into its four newly made reservoirs, without the consent of Tamil Nadu resulting in a dispute.
- To resolve the matter, the CWDT was established in 1990 which took 17 years to arrive at the final order (2007) on how Cauvery water should be shared between the 4 riparian states in normal rainfall conditions.
- In distress years, a pro-rata basis shall be used, it instructed. The government again took 6 years and notified the order in 2013.
- This was challenged in SC which directed Karnataka to release 12000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu prompting protests in the State.
- The final verdict of the SC came in 2018 where it declared the Cauvery a national asset and largely upheld the water-sharing arrangements finalised by the CWDT and also reduced the allocation of water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.
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- As per the SC, Karnataka would get 284.75 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft), Tamil Nadu 404.25 tmcft, Kerala 30 tmcft and Puducherry 7 tmcft.
- It also directed the Centre to notify the Cauvery Management Scheme. The central government notified the ‘Cauvery Water Management Scheme’ in June 2018, constituting the ‘Cauvery Water Management Authority’ and the ‘Cauvery Water Regulation Committee’.
- The governance of interstate rivers is mired in conflict for two constitutional reasons at the core of hostile hydro-politics, at the subnational level: conflictual federalism, and the ambiguity around dispute resolution.
- Conflictual federalism results when the division of legislative powers concerning water resources is amorphous due to inadequate enforcement of the constitutional role originally envisioned for the Union government.
- The vacuum thus created has allowed states unregulated access to the waters of interstate rivers, often based on historical arrangements, rooted in conflicting perceptions of property rights over transboundary rivers or a reductionist view of food security.
- The lack of an integrated ecosystems approach that considers the nexus of land, water and food production is a serious omission in the efforts towards resolving conflicts over interstate rivers.
- While the Union List mentions “interstate water,” the State List simply uses the term “water” to signify what is essentially “surface water” confined within the boundaries of the state. This has allowed states to legislate on the entire extent of surface water available within its borders, regardless of whether the source of the river or its tributary is located outside its boundary or the river is draining into another state.
- The apex court has limited the role of the tribunals to quantification and allocation of water between riparian states, and its own role is to be an interpreter of the awards and the water-sharing agreements. These issues have greatly reduced the scope of federalism in Indian polity, making states subservient to the Union, not quasi-sovereign entities that became a part of the Union through a series of agreements.
- In recent years, increasing water scarcity, a rapid rise in urban and rural demands for freshwater, and contentious political dynamics have further exacerbated the problem.
- All the major river basins and some among the medium river basins are of inter-state nature. As the development of projects by one State on an inter-state river may affect the interests of other basin States, inter-state differences arise with regard to use, distribution and control of waters of inter-state river basins.
- Article 246 of the Constitution deals with the subject matter of laws to be made by the Parliament and by the Legislatures of the States.
- Article 262 of the Constitution deals with adjudication of water disputes. The provisions in this regard are:
- Article 262 (1)
- "Parliament may, by law, provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-State River or river valley."
- Article 262 (2)
- "Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may, by law, provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint as is referred to in clause (1)."
- The allocation of responsibilities between the Centre and the States in respect of laws to be made falls into three categories –
- The Union List (List – I): "56. Regulation and development of inter-State rivers and river valleys to the extent to which such regulation and development under the control of the Union is declared by Parliament by law to be expedient in the public interest."
- The State List (List –II): "17. Water that is to say, water supplies, irrigation and canals, drainage and embankments, water storage and water power subject to the provisions of Entry 56 of List - I."
- Inter-State River Water Disputes Amendment Bill, 2019
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- The Inter-State River Water Disputes Amendment Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 25th July,2019 by the minister of Jal Shakti. It amends the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956. The Act provides for the adjudication of disputes relating to waters of inter-state rivers and river valleys.
- Under the Act, a state government may request the central government to refer an inter-state river dispute to a Tribunal for adjudication. If the central government is of the opinion that the dispute cannot be settled through negotiations, it is required to set up a Water Disputes Tribunal for adjudication of the dispute, within a year of receiving such a complaint. Bill seeks to replace this mechanism.
- Disputes Resolution Committee:
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- Under the Bill, when a state puts in a request regarding any water dispute, the central government will set up a Disputes Resolution Committee (DRC), to resolve the dispute amicably.
- The DRC will consist of a chairperson, and experts with at least 15 years of experience in relevant sectors, to be nominated by the central government. It will also include one member from each state (at Joint Secretary level), who is party to the dispute, to be nominated by the concerned state government.
- The DRC will seek to resolve the dispute through negotiations, within one year (extendable by six months), and submit its report to the central government. If a dispute cannot be settled by the DRC, the central government will refer it to the Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal. Such a referral must be made within three months of receipt of the report from the DRC.
- Tribunal:
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- The central government will set up an Inter-State River Water Disputes Tribunal, for the adjudication of water disputes. This Tribunal can have multiple benches. All existing Tribunals will be dissolved, and the water disputes pending adjudication before such existing Tribunals will be transferred to the new Tribunal.
- Composition of the Tribunal:
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- The Tribunal will consist of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, three judicial members, and three expert members. They will be appointed by the central government on the recommendation of a Selection Committee.
- Each Tribunal Bench will consist of a chairperson or Vice-Chairperson, a judicial member, and an expert member. The central government may also appoint two experts serving in the Central Water Engineering Service as assessors to advise the Bench in its proceedings. The assessor should not be from the state which is a party to the dispute.
- Time frames:
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- Under the Act, the Tribunal must make its decision within three years, which may be extended by two years. Under the Bill, the proposed Tribunal must make its decision on the dispute within two years, which may be extended by another year.
- Under the Act, if the matter is again referred to the Tribunal by a state for further consideration, the Tribunal must submit its report to the central government within a period of one year. This period can be extended by the central government. The Bill amends this to specify that such an extension may be up to a maximum of six months.
- Parliament passed the Dams Safety Act, 2021 under article 256 to monitor the safety of aging dams located on all rivers of India. As it is covering all the rivers in India instead of interstate rivers, petition was filed in High Court against such act challenging its constitutional validity.
- Dispute resolution is a layered process, as mandated by the ISWD Act. After receiving a complaint from a state, the Union government first tries to mediate. It is only when negotiations fail that the Centre is required to form a tribunal to adjudicate the dispute. However, the states can question the award of the tribunal under Section 5(3) of the ISWD Act.
- The negotiation between parties may be direct or involve third-party interference of varying degrees. In the case of good offices, the third party simply facilitates dialogue between the conflicting states, and once negotiations begin, the functions of good offices are stated to be complete.
- In the case of mediation, the involvement of the third party is more active, i.e. It makes a proposal based on the information supplied by the parties and directs the proceedings towards a peaceful resolution. The method of reconciliation that utilises inquiry by impartial bodies or advisory committees and commission is the most proactive third-party involvement, with the body preparing a report that contains proposals for a settlement.
- The current condition of interstate river water governance in India warrants a new approach for cooperative federalism and interstate water governance.
- In terms of identifying a unit of governance, river basins are the most appropriate. Located at the confluence of hydrology, geography and ecology, river basins are frequently used as a proxy for ecosystem boundaries and are a superior categorisation than the gerrymandered, mutable boundaries marked by humans on maps.
- The river basins have been declared essentially depoliticised spaces, citing scientific legitimacy and drawing ‘nature’ into the equation to simply override any other consideration.
- River basins are open systems and are essentially connected to the sea and the atmosphere. Their boundaries often do not conform with the boundaries of an underlying aquifer; the water within the river courses is connected to the underlying aquifer system, and groundwater may contribute to streamflow (and vice versa) based on the movement of the water table.
- Ecological restoration and conservation of aquatic biodiversity, in addition to the balancing of water supply and demand for human use in the management objectives and outcomes of the basin plan.
- The identification of key issues and risks to river basins and the strategies needed to address them in both the short and long term.
- The River Basin Authority must develop adequate capacity for understanding the unique needs and realities emerging from the interplay of socioeconomic factors. Interdisciplinary knowledge would also prove immensely vital for devising appropriate plans to adapt to a changing climate.
- The River Board Organisations (RBOs) for transboundary river water governance provides for autonomous and consensus-based decision-making mechanisms, transparent and effective data and information-sharing mechanisms, and provisions for meaningful stakeholder involvement, thereby acting as a spur for any institutional mechanism that can improve the functioning of the River Basin Authorities.
- Consensus on river governance must be simultaneously achieved in two levels: federal consensus and electoral consensus (for resolution at the site of mass politics). A sound solution must acknowledge that the federal dynamics in India needs confidence-building, both between the Centre and states as well as amongst the states. Consensus-building, based on sustained political deliberation, must be carried out in an institutional environment that guarantees fair representation of the states.
- History shows that mutual suspicions have often derailed the process of political negotiations, especially for states ruled by opposing political parties or coalitions, and in the case of states governed by parties opposed to the national ruling party. These animosities have affected the efficacy of the existing institutional mechanisms.
- Since “federal consensus” can only be achieved when the parties involved find it politically beneficial, institutional confidence-building is a necessary condition for fostering such consensus for ISWDs. This can lead to an institutional politicisation of the dispute within the federal framework, where the political actors can deliberate at the institutional level, keeping in mind the political feasibility of a possible solution.
- Electoral consensus is equally important in the states where river water disputes have assumed larger political dimensions of regional identity and autonomy. It can be achieved by the “positive politicisation” of the issue, which can only happen when the electorate is sensitised regarding the tangible economic and ecological costs of prolonged disputes. The political discourse of regional identity and culture must be unravelled by bringing to public notice the developmental hindrances, economic losses, and environmental degradation resulting from a lack of a solution to the dispute.
- To forge an electoral consensus, the gains of a compromise-induced conflict resolution must be made evident to the people and contrasted with potential losses arising from prolonged ISWDs. In the context of resolving ISWDs, the focus should be on strengthening the existing and evolving institutional mechanisms, and accommodating political sensitivities to find a long-term and mutually amicable path for the governance of interstate river water.
- The river Cauvery originates in the Brahmagiri range Western Ghats in Talakaveri of Coorg district.
- Length – about 800 km.
- The total catchment area – 81,155 Sq. km.
- Main tributaries in the State of Karnataka- Harangi, Hemavathi, Shimsha, Arkavavathi, Lakshmanathirta, Kabini and Suvarnavatti
- Main tributaries in the State of Tamil Nadu- Bhavani, Noyyal and Amaravathy
- The western side of the catchment receives south-west monsoon rainfall between June and September.
- The eastern catchment receives north-east monsoon rainfall between October and December of each year.
- The non-monsoon period rainfall is not significant.
- Cauvery river is an interstate river, which originates in Karnataka State, traversing through Tamil Nadu before draining into Bay of Bengal.
- The catchment area lies in the States of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
- Cauvery is the only perennial source of water available, and any project or proposal to provide drinking water can only be from this source.
- The Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area located in the Mandya, Chamarajanagar and Ramanagar districts of Karnataka
- The Cauvery River passes through its midst.
- An area of 510.52 km2 (197.11 sq mi) was established as Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary on 14 January 1987 under Section 18 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 with the objective of providing protection, conservation and development of Wildlife and its environment.
- The sanctuary was expanded to its current area of 102,753 hectares (253,910 acres) in 2013
- On its east, it adjoins Dharmapuri forest division of Tamil Nadu state.
POSTED ON 24-03-2022 BY ADMIN
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