13th June 2021
India's Ethanol Roadmap
The central government has released an expert committee report on the Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India by 2025.
- The roadmap proposes a gradual rollout of ethanol-blended fuel to achieve E10 fuel supply by April 2022 and phased rollout of E20 from April 2023 to April 2025.
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- The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG) had instituted an Expert Group to study the issues such as pricing of ethanol, matching pace of the automobile industry to manufacture vehicles with new engines with the supply of ethanol, pricing of such vehicles, fuel efficiency of different engines etc.
- It is one of the principal biofuels, which is naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration.
- The Government of India has advanced the target for 20% ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025from 2030.
- Currently, 8.5% of ethanol is blended with petrol in India.
- Objectives of Ethanol Blending:
- Energy Security:
- Increased use of ethanol can help reduce the oil import bill. India’s net import cost stands at USD 551 billion in 2020-21.
- The E20 program can save the country USD 4 billion (Rs 30,000 crore) per annum.
- Incentives for Farmers:
- The oil companies procure ethanol from farmers that benefits the sugarcane farmers.
- Further, the government plans to encourage use of water-saving crops, such as maize, to produce ethanol, and production of ethanol from non-food feedstock.
- Impact on Emission:
- Use of ethanol-blended petrol decreases emissions such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx).
- The unregulated carbonyl emissions, such as acetaldehyde emission were, however, higher with E10 and E20compared to normal petrol. However, these emissions were relatively lower.
- Recommendations:
- Notifying Ethanol Blending Roadmap: MoP&NG should immediately notify the plan for pan-India availability of E10 fuel by April, 2022 and its continued availability thereafter until 2025 for older vehicles, and launch of E20 in the country in phases from April, 2023 onwards so as to make E20 available by April, 2025.
- Augmenting Infrastructure for Oil Marketing Companies: OMCs will need to prepare for the projected requirement of ethanol storage, handling, blending and dispensing infrastructure.
- Expediting Regulatory Clearances: Currently, ethanol production plants/distilleries fall under the “Red category” and require environmental clearance under the Air and Water Acts for new and expansion projects.
- This often takes a long time leading to delays.
- While several steps have been taken to expedite Environment Clearances (EC) under the Environment Protection Act there are few areas of concern which if addressed, will facilitate early setting up of ethanol distillation capacities in the country.
- Incentivising Ethanol Blended Vehicle: Globally, vehicles compliant with higher ethanol blends are provided with tax benefits.
- A similar approach may be followed so that the cost increase due to E20 compatible design may be absorbed to a certain extent, as is being done in some states for promoting Electric Vehicles.
- Pricing of Ethanol Blended Gasoline: For better acceptability of higher ethanol blends in the country, retail price of such fuels should be lower than normal petrol to compensate for the reduction in calorific value and incentivize switching to the blended fuel.
- Tax breaks on ethanol as a fuel may be considered by the government.
Initiatives Already Taken
- The National Policy on Biofuels–2018, provides an indicative target of 20% ethanol blending under the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme by 2030.
- The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has mandated stickers on vehicles mentioning their E20, E85 or E100 compatibility.
- This will pave the way for flex fuel vehicles.
- Flex fuel engines can run any ratio of blended petrol from E20 to E100.
- E100 pilot project: It has been inaugurated in Pune.
- TVS Apache two-wheelers are designed to run on E80 or pure ethanol (E100).
- Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana, 2019: The scheme aims to create an ecosystem for setting up commercial projects and boost Research and Development in the 2G Ethanol sector.
- GOBAR (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources) DHAN Scheme, 2018: The scheme aims to positively impact village cleanliness and generate wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste.
- It also aims at creating new rural livelihood opportunities and enhancing income for farmers and other rural people.
- Repurpose Used Cooking Oil (RUCO): The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched this initiative that will enable collection and conversion of used cooking oil to biodiesel.
Fast Radio Bursts
Recently, researchers from the Pune-based Tata Institute for Fundamental Research (TIFR) and the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA), have assembled the largest collection of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) catalogue.
- The data is from Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME).
- In 2020, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spotted FRB for the first time in the Milky Way.
- Fast Radio Bursts:
- FRB are bright bursts of radio waves (radio waves can be produced by astronomical objects with changing magnetic fields) whose durations lie in the millisecond-scale, because of which it is difficult to detect them and determine their position in the sky.
- It was first discovered in 2007.
- A defining property of these bursts is their dispersion (scattering or separation), the bursts produce a spectrum of radio waves, and as the waves travel through matter, they spread out or disperse with bursts at higher radio frequencies arriving at telescopes earlier than those at lower frequencies.
- Dispersion can result in signal degradation in many applications, especially over large distances.
- This dispersion allows researchers to learn about two important things:
- They can measure this dispersion to learn about the stuff that radio bursts pass through as they travel toward Earth
- They can indirectly determine how far apart things are.
- FRBs Catalogue & Findings:
- The new catalogue significantly expands the current library of known FRBs, and is already yielding clues as to their properties.
- For instance, the newly discovered bursts appear to fall in two distinct classes: those that repeat, and those that don’t.
- The repeaters looked different, with each burst lasting slightly longer and emitting more focused radio frequencies than bursts from single, non-repeating FRBs.
- These differences strongly suggest that emission from repeaters and non-repeaters is generated either by different physical mechanisms or in different astrophysical environments
- The bursts were evenly distributed in space, seeming to arise from any and all parts of the sky.
- Bright FRBs occur at a rate of about 800 per day across the entire sky - the most precise estimate of FRBs overall rate to date.
- Origin of FRBs:
- FRBs have been spotted in various and distant parts of the universe, as well as in our own galaxy. Their origins are unknown and their appearance is highly unpredictable.
- The CHIME project has nearly quadrupled the number of fast radio bursts discovered to date.
- The telescope has detected 535 new FRBs in its first year of operation itself, between 2018 and 2019.
- With more observations, astronomers hope soon to find the origins of the FRBs.
- Chime:
- It is a novel radio telescope that has no moving parts. Originally conceived to map the most abundant element in the universe - hydrogen - over a good fraction of the observable universe, this unusual telescope is optimized to have a high mapping speed.
- It is located at the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, operated by the National Research Council of Canada in British Columbia, Canada.
- The telescope receives radio signals each day from half of the sky as the Earth rotates.
- Significance of Studying FRBs:
- The unique properties of fast radio bursts and their host galaxies combined with recent technological advancements have given researchers hope that these phenomena can be used to answer some long-standing questions about the universe.
- It can be used to understand the three–dimensional structure of matter in the universe and to learn about poorly understood early moments in the evolution of the universe.
Rescuing Gharials: Mahanadi River
Recently, Odisha announced a cash award of Rs. 1,000 to conserve gharials in Mahanadi River Basin.
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- Gharials, sometimes called gavials, are a type of Asian crocodilian distinguished by their long, thin snouts. Crocodilians are a group of reptiles that includes crocodiles, alligators, caimans, and more.
- India has three species of Crocodilians namely:
- Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus): IUCN Red List- Critically Endangered
- Mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris): IUCN- Vulnerable.
- Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus): IUCN- Least Concern.
- All the three are listed on Appendix I of CITES and Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
- Exception: Saltwater Crocodile populations of Australia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are included in Appendix II of CITES.
- Habitat of Gharials:
- Natural Habitat: Fresh waters of the northern part of India.
- Primary Habitat: Chambal river (a tributary of Yamuna).
- Secondary Habitat: Ghagra, Gandak river, Girwa river (Uttar Pradesh), the Ramganga river (Uttarakhand) and the Sone river (Bihar).
- Significance: Population of Gharials are a good indicator of clean river water.
- Conservation Efforts:
- Breeding Centres of Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, National Chambal Sanctuary (Gharial Eco Park, Madhya Pradesh).
- Threats:
- Increased river pollution, dam construction, massive-scale fishing operations and floods.
- Illegal sand mining and poaching.
- Mahanadi River:
- The Mahanadi River system is the third largest of peninsular India after Godavari and Krishna, and the largest river of Odisha state.
- The catchment area of the river extends to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra.
- Its basin is bounded by the Central India hills on the north, by the Eastern Ghats on the south and east and by the Maikala range on the west.
- Source:
- It rises from a place near Sihawa in Bastar hills in the state of Chhattisgarh to the south of Amarkantak.
- Major Tributaries: Seonath River, Hasdeo river, Mand river, Ib river, Jonking river, Tel river
- Mahanadi River Dispute: The Central Government constituted Mahanadi Water Disputes Tribunal in 2018.
- Major Dams/Projects on Mahanadi:
- Hirakud Dam: This is the longest dam of India.
- Ravishankar Sagar, Dudhawa Reservoir, Sondur Reservoir, Hasdeo Bango and Tandula are other major projects.
Padma Awards
Online nominations/recommendations for the Padma Awards to be announced on the occasion of Republic Day, 2022 are open.
- In 2021, a total of 119 Padma awards were conferred, including 7 padma vibhushan, 10 padma bhushan and 102 padma shri.
- The Padma Awards are announced annually on Republic Day (26th January).
- Instituted in 1954, it is one of the highest civilian honours of India.
- Objective:
- To recognize achievements in all fields of activities or disciplines where an element of public service is involved.
- Categories:
- The Awards are given in three categories:
- Padma Vibhushan (for exceptional and distinguished service),
- Padma Bhushan (distinguished service of higher-order) and
- Padma Shri (distinguished service).
- Padma Vibhushan is highest in the hierarchy of Padma Awards followed by Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.
- Disciplines:
- The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service etc.
- Eligibility:
- All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these Awards.
- Selection Process:
- Padma Awards Committee:
- The Awards are conferred on the recommendations made by the Padma Awards Committee, which is constituted by the Prime Minister every year.
- Awarded by President:
- The awards are presented by the President of India usually in the month of March/April every year.
Bharat Ratna
- It is the highest civilian award of the country. It is awarded in recognition of exceptional service/performance of the highest order in any field of human endeavour.
- It is treated on a different footing from Padma Award. The recommendations for Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President of India.
- The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year.
Global Economic Prospects: World Bank
Recently, the World Bank has released its June 2021 Global Economic Prospects where it has forecast India’s GDP growth to be 8.3% for the year 2021-22.
Key Points
- GDP Estimate:
- For India:
- India's economy is expected to grow at 8.3% for Fiscal Year 2021-22, 7.5% for 2022-23 and 6.5% for 2023-24.
- For World:
- The world economy is expected to expand 5.6%, the fastest post-recession growth rate in eighty years.
- However, global output will still be 2% below pre-pandemic projections by year-end.
- Cause:
- For FY 2020-21:
- The projected growth compares to the worst ever contraction of 7.3% in FY 2020-21 and 4% expansion in 2019-20.
- India’s recovery is being hampered by the largest outbreak of any country since the beginning of the pandemic.
- For FY 2021-22:
- The forecast for FY22 (8.3%) factors in expected economic damage from an enormous second Covid-19 waveand localised mobility restrictions since March 2021.
- For FY 2022-23:
- Growth is expected to slow to 7.5% as a result of the pandemic’s lingering effects on the financial position of households, companies and banks and possibly low levels of consumer confidence and heightened uncertainty around job and incomes.
- Steps Taken by India:
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced measures to provide liquidity to Micro, Small and Medium firms (MSMEs), and loosened regulatory requirements on the provisioning for non-performing assets.
- Fiscal policy shifted in the FY 2021/22 budget toward higher expenditure targeted at healthcare and infrastructure to boost the post-pandemic recovery.
- Suggestions:
- Globally coordinated efforts are essential to accelerate vaccine distribution and debt relief, particularly for low-income countries.
- As the health crisis eases, policymakers will need to address the pandemic’s lasting effects and take steps to spur green, resilient, and inclusive growth while safeguarding macroeconomic stability.
- For low-income countries, policies focusing on scaling up social safety net programs, improving logistics and climate resilience of local food supply would be more helpful.
Key Terms
- Gross Domestic Product
- GDP is a measure of economic activity in a country. It is the total value of a country’s annual output of goods and services. It gives the economic output from the consumers’ side.
- GDP = Private consumption + Gross investment + Government investment + Government spending + (exports-imports).
- Recession and Depression
- Recession: It is a macroeconomic term that refers to a slowdown or a massive contraction in economic activities for a long enough period, or it can be said that when a recession sustains for long enough, it is called a recession.
- Depression: It is a deep and long-lasting period of negative economic growth, with output falling for at least 12 months and GDP falling by over 10% or it can be referred to as a severe and prolonged recession.
- Fiscal Policy
- Fiscal policy refers to the use of government spending and tax policies to influence economic conditions.
- During a recession, the government may employ expansionary fiscal policy by lowering tax rates to increase aggregate demand and fuel economic growth.
- In the face of mounting inflation and other expansionary symptoms, a government may pursue contractionary fiscal policy.
World Bank
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- The Bretton Woods Conference held in 1944, created the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
- The IBRD later became the World Bank.
- The World Bank Group is a unique global partnership of five institutions working for sustainable solutions that reduce poverty and build shared prosperity in developing countries.
- Members:
- It has 189 member countries. India is also a member country.
- Major Reports:
- Ease of Doing Business.
- Human Capital Index.
- World Development Report.
- Migration and Development Brief.
- Global Economic Prospects.
- Its Five Development Institutions:
- International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD): Provides loans, credits, and grants.
- International Development Association (IDA): Provides low- or no-interest loans to low-income countries.
- International Finance Corporation (IFC): Provides investment, advice, and asset management to companies and governments.
- Multilateral Guarantee Agency (MIGA): Insures lenders and investors against political risk such as war.
- International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID): Settles investment-disputes between investors and countries.
- India is not a member of ICSID.
Hindu Kush Himalayan Mountains
According to UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) mountain ranges could lose up to two-third of its ice by 2100.
- About 2 billion people may face food, water shortages by 2100.
HKH Region:
- It is often referred to as the ‘Third Pole’, on earth, is spread over 3,500 square kms across eight countries including India, Nepal and China.
- It contains the world’s third-largest storage of frozen water after Antarctica and the Arctic.
- Over 240 million people live in the region’s mountains. 1.7 billion live in the river basins downstream, while food grown in these basins reaches three billion people.
- The glaciers feed at least 10 major river systems, which have bearings on agricultural activities, drinking water and hydroelectricity production in the region.
- Challenges:
- According to ICIMOD’s (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) 2019 assessment, the HKH region will continue to warm through the 21st century even if the world is able to limit global warming at the agreed 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- The Paris agreement aims to substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2 degrees Celsius above pre industrial levels, while pursuing the means to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees.
- In the future, even if global warming is kept to 1.5 degrees C above the pre-industrialisation levels, warming in the HKH region is likely to be at least 0.3 degrees C higher, and in the northwest Himalaya and Karakoram at least 0.7 degrees C higher.
- Threat:
- High Mountain Asia (the Asian mountain ranges surrounding the Tibetan Plateau) will lose a substantial part of its cryosphere in the next decades and thus a substantial part of its water storage abilities. This will lead to increased water stress in high mountain areas.
- A cryosphere comprises portions of Earth’s surface where water is in solid form, including sea ice, lake ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, etc.
- Causes for the Melting of Glaciers:
- The melting is driven by larger anthropogenic modifications (i.e. influenced by humans) of the atmosphere.
- The HKH region lies downwind from some of the most heavily polluted places on Earth. This threatens agriculture, climate as well as monsoon patterns.
- Recommendations:
- It is recommended to shift away from fossil fuel use in energy, transport, and other sectors, while changing diets and agricultural practices to move to net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases.
- The countries in the region need to reduce emissions of black carbon and other air pollutants as well.
- Suggested Policies and Actions to Mitigate the Problem:
- Farmers will need support to design and invest in locally-appropriate water storage solutions, or to shift to agricultural practices that consume less water.
- Designs of new hydropower plants and grids will need to take into account the changing climate and water availability.
- Data and information, capacity-building and early warning systems and infrastructure design will need to be improved. This calls for sufficient funding and large-scale coordination.
- Related Initiative Taken by India:
- National Mission on Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE) is one of the eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).
- The mandate is to evolve measures to sustain and safeguard the Himalayan glaciers, mountain ecosystems, biodiversity and wildlife conservation & protection.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
- ICIMOD is an intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre working for the people of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH).
- It is based in Kathmandu, Nepal and works in and for eight regional member countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Dehing Patkai and Raimona National Parks: Assam
Recently, the Assam government notified Dehing Patkai as the 7th National Park of the state.
- It was created shortly after Raimona reserve forest in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district was upgraded to a national park (6th) on the occasion of World Environment Day (5th June).
National Park
- An area, whether within a sanctuary or not, can be notified by the state government to be constituted as a National Park, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral, or zoological association or importance, needed to for the purpose of protecting & propagating or developing wildlife therein or its environment.
- No human activity is permitted inside the national park except for the ones permitted by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the state under the conditions given in WPA (Wildlife Protection Act) 1972.
- Some human activities can be allowed inside a wildlife sanctuary, but no human activity is allowed in a national park.
Dehing Patkai National Park:
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- It is located within the larger Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve, which spreads across the coal- and oil-rich districts of Upper Assam (Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts).
- The oldest refinery of Asia in Digboi and ‘open cast’ coal mining at Lido are located near the sanctuary.
- The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is also known as the Jeypore Rainforest.
- Dehing is the name of the river that flows through this forest and Patkai is the hill at the foot of which the sanctuary lies.
- It is believed to be the last remaining contiguous patch of lowland rainforest area in Assam.
- Rare fauna found in the region include Chinese pangolin, flying fox, wild pig, sambar, barking deer, gaur, serow and Malayan giant squirrels.
- It is the only sanctuary in India which is home to seven different species of wild cats - tiger, leopard, clouded leopard, leopard cat, golden cat, jungle cat and marbled cat.
- Assamese macaque, a primate found in the forest, is in the red list of Near Threatened species.
- It has the highest concentration of the rare endangered White Winged Wood Duck.
- Raimona National Park:
- The Raimona National Park is within the Bodoland Territorial Region.
- The area of the park includes the northern part of the notified Ripu Reserve Forest, which forms the western-most buffer to the Manas National Park that straddles the India-Bhutan border.
- It is bounded on the west by the Sonkosh river and the Saralbhanga river on the east.
- Both the rivers are tributaries of Brahmaputra.
- The Pekua river defines Raimona’s southern boundary.
- Transboundary Conservation Landscape:
- It shares contiguous forest patches of Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park of Bhutan creating a transboundary conservation landscape of more than 2,400 sq km.
- Flora and Fauna:
- It is famous for Golden Langur, an endemic species which has been named as the mascot of Bodoland region.
- It also has Asian elephant, Royal Bengal tiger, Clouded leopard, Indian gaur, Wild water buffalo, Spotted deer, Hornbill, more than 150 species of butterflies, 170 species of birds, 380 varieties of plants and orchids.
- National Parks in Assam:
- Assam now has the third most National Parks after the 12 in Madhya Pradesh and nine in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
- The seven National Parks in the State are Dehing Patkai, Raimona, Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, Orang, and Dibru-Saikhowa.
- Kaziranga and Manas are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. They are also tiger reserves along with Nameri and Orang.
Joint Statement on Multilateralism: BRICS
The BRICS Foreign Ministers, in a recent meet, put out a joint statement on multilateralism.
- BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- Multilateralism:
- It is the process of organizing relations between groups of three or more states.
- It generally comprises certain qualitative elements or principles that shape the character of the arrangement or institution. These principles are:
- Indivisibility of interests among participants.
- Commitment to diffuse reciprocity, i.e. mutual exchange.
- System of dispute settlement intended to enforce a particular mode of behaviour.
- Significance:
- Multilateral institutions have played a significant role in post-war global governance and are arguably more stablethan other forms of organization because the principles underlying them appear to be more durable and more able to adapt to external changes.
- Increasing Incidences of Lawfare:
- It means the misuse of existing International and national laws by several countries (via forced technology requirements, intellectual property rights violations, and subsidies), to gain an unfair advantage over other countries.
- The imposition of extraterritorial sanction (under CAATSA) by the US has affected development in developing economies like India and China.
- Paralysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO), due to the tussle between the developed and developing world.
- Dual Use of Global Supply Chain:
- Some of the developed countries have jurisdiction and control over global supply chains. Due to growing convergence between commercial interests and strategic goals, these supply chains enable them to have vast extraterritorial influence and have created new power asymmetries.
- China through BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) is enhancing its role in global economic governance.
- There are fears pertaining to dual-use (commercial viability and military application) of Industrial Revolution 4.0.
- Lack of Global Framework:
- The global community has not been able to come on a single platform or frame a Global Agenda on issues related to terrorism, Climate Change, cybersecurity etc.
- Also, due to the lack of any global public health framework, Covid-19 has spread into a pandemic.
- Six Principles laid out by BRICS for the task of Strengthening and and Reforming the Multilateral System:
- First, it should make global governance more inclusive, representative and participatory to facilitate greater and more meaningful participation of developing and least developed countries.
- Second, it should be based on inclusive consultation and collaboration for the benefit of all.
- Third, it should make multilateral organisations more responsive, action-oriented and solution-oriented based on the norms and principles of international law and the spirit of mutual respect, justice, equality, and mutually beneficial cooperation.
- Fourth, it should use innovative and inclusive solutions, including digital and technological tools.
- Fifth, it should strengthen the capacities of individual States and international organizations.
- Sixth, it should promote people-centered international cooperation at the core. .
BRICS
- BRICS is an acronym for the grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
- In 2001, the British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
- The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers’ in 2006.
- South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
- India has assumed the BRICS Presidency from January 2021.
Structure
- BRICS does not exist in the form of organization, but it is an annual summit between the supreme leaders of five nations.
- The Chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.
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