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Mar 23, 2022
NAI ROSHNI SCHEME FOR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT OF MINORITY WOMEN
Recently, the state-wise distribution of NGOs implementing the Nai Roshni Scheme for leadership development of Minority women is annexed.
About Nai Roshni Scheme
The Net-Zero Goal
About MN Roy
Wolf Conservation in Ladakh
About Bihar Diwas
About World Water Day
About World Water Day 2022
About Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
About Nai Roshni Scheme
- Nai Roshni Scheme aims to empower and enhance confidence in Minority women by providing knowledge, tool and techniques for Leadership Development of Women.
- It is a six-days non-residential/five-days residential training programme conducted for the women belonging to minority community between the age group of 18 years to 65 years.
- The training modules cover areas related to Programmes for women, Health and Hygiene, Legal rights of women, Financial Literacy, Digital Literacy, Swachch Bharat, Life Skills, and Advocacy for Social and Behavioural changes.
- The scheme is being implemented through Programme Implementing Agencies/Non-Governmental Organizations. The PIAs/NGOs provide hand holding to all beneficiaries for a period of 12 months after the training.
- The objective of the scheme is to empower and instil confidence among minority women, including their neighbours from other communities living in the same village/locality, by providing knowledge, tools and techniques for interacting with Government systems, banks and other institutions at all levels.
- The scheme is targeted to cover women belonging to all minorities notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992 viz, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Zoroastrian (Parsi) and Jain. The scheme would be monitored through the involvement of organisations which would responsible for visiting the region and providing nurturing/hand holding service to the group of women.
- Empowerment of women per se is not only essential for equity, but also constitutes a critical element in our fight for poverty reduction, economic growth and strengthening of civil society.
- Women and children are always the worst sufferers in a poverty-stricken family and need support. Empowering women, especially mothers, is even more important as it is in homes that she nourishes, nurture and moulds the character of her offspring.
- The effort would embolden minority women to move out of the confines of their home and community and assume leadership roles and assert their rights, collectively or individually, in accessing services, facilities, skills, and opportunities besides claiming their due share of development benefits of the Government for improving their lives and living conditions.
- “Nai Roshni” programme is run with the help of NGOs, Civil societies and Government Institutions all over the country. It includes various training modules like Leadership of women, Educational Programmes, Health and Hygiene, Swachh Bharat, Financial Literacy, Life Skills, Legal Rights of Women, Digital Literacy and Advocacy for Social and behavioural change.
- This scheme will empower and enhance confidence in women and help them in adapting leadership roles.
- This scheme also focuses on economic empowerment of the women so that they can become independent and confident members of society.
- Under this scheme various kinds of leadership development training modules will be developed which includes life skills, health and hygiene, digital India, economic empowerment etc.
- Womens will be provided training through the training institutes under this scheme.
- Garib Nawaz Employment Scheme
- Seekho aur Kamao
- Begum Hazrat Mahal Girls scholarships
- Nai Manzil
- Usttad (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development)
The Net-Zero Goal
- Net-zero, which is also referred to as carbon-neutrality, does not mean that a country would bring down its emissions to zero. Rather, net-zero is a state in which a country’s emissions are compensated for by absorption and removal of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
- Absorption of the emissions can be increased by creating more carbon sinks such as forests, while removal of gases from the atmosphere requires futuristic technologies such as carbon capture and storage.
- This way, it is even possible for a country to have negative emissions, if the absorption and removal exceed the actual emissions. A good example is Bhutan which is often described as carbon-negative because it absorbs more than it emits.
- India has delivered on its Paris Agreement commitments in ‘letter and spirit’. It has now committed to an ambitious plan to cut down the carbon intensity of its economy by more than 45 percent by 2030 and achieve net-zero by 2070.
- A very active campaign has been going on for the last two years to get every country to sign on to a net-zero goal for 2050. It is being argued that global carbon neutrality by 2050 is the only way to achieve the Paris Agreement target of keeping the planet’s temperature from rising beyond 2°C compared to pre-industrial times. Current policies and actions being taken to reduce emissions would not even be able to prevent a 3–4°C rise by the turn of the century.
- The goal of carbon neutrality is only the latest formulation of a discussion going on for decades, on having a long-term goal. Long-term targets ensure predictability, and continuity, in policies and actions of the countries. But there has never been a consensus on what this goal should be.
- Earlier, the discussions used to be on emission-reduction targets, for 2050 or 2070, for rich and developed countries, whose unregulated emissions over several decades are mainly responsible for global warming and consequent climate change. The net-zero formulation does not assign any emission reduction targets to any country.
- Theoretically, a country can become carbon-neutral at its current level of emissions, or even by increasing its emissions, if it is able to absorb or remove more. From the perspective of the developed world, it is a big relief, because now the burden is shared by everyone, and does not fall only on them.
- India has committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by the year 2070. This is projected to create over 50 million new jobs. A major enabler of this goal is the shift to renewable energy (RE) from conventional fossil fuel-based energy.
- India has set an ambitious target of achieving 500 GW of RE capacity by 2030, of which more than 100 GW of installed RE capacity has already been achieved.
- India’s renewable energy sector would potentially employ around one million people by 2030, with emerging opportunities in new infrastructure, low-carbon manufacturing, etc.
- a National Hydrogen Mission for generating hydrogen from green power sources;
- a plan to decarbonise the Indian Railways by 2030;
- electrification across sectors to reduce dependency on carbon-intensive fuels;
- incentivising electric vehicles through schemes such as Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India Scheme (FAME);
- promoting a shift from biomass for cooking to LPG, encouraging conversion of all lights to LEDs inside of homes and on streets; and launch of an energy savings certificates trading scheme.
- India can share learnings from its people-centric developmental models, indigenous technologies, programme management expertise, and inclusive policies while being respectful towards the priorities of individual countries. Such actions can liberate LDCs and SIDs from heavy expectations of financial reciprocity.
- To begin with, India can support them in preparing for the global stocktake of the Paris Agreement (GST) 2023 through local capacity building. Such support can trickle in through various bilateral and multilateral initiatives.
- It is important to note that the outcome of this GST is expected to influence the drafting of new NDCs for the post-2023 phase. India can help synchronise global climate actions across geographies to help them become more relevant, impactful, and sustainable.
- Purposeful actions in a few sectors can yield disproportionately large favourable outcomes. Renewed thrust on promoting renewable energy, electric mobility, sustainable built-environment and smart- agriculture can result in rapid, inclusive, and sustainable benefits.
- Although each sector has a unique structure and distinct growth-dynamics, a holistic value-chain approach on climate action that includes multilateral agencies, local/state/union governments, private sector, civil society, and academia can be transformational.
- Intensifying sector-focused peer-to-peer knowledge-sharing avenues at each stratum of these value-chains can unlock substantial opportunities for all stakeholders. The participation of diverse countries in India-led initiatives like International Solar Alliance, Centre for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Asia and the Pacific (CSSTE-AP), Start-up India International Summit, etc., have reinforced the utility of such initiatives.
- Indian business associations such as Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), FICCI, ASSOCHAM, NASSCOM can contribute substantially towards the global ‘circular economy’ discourse.
- They can become leading ambassadors for propagating India’s commercial diplomacy on climate action. They can facilitate the exchange of climate-smart practices with peers in LDCs and SIDs.
- Creating country-specific systems for capturing market intelligence, catalysing growth of innovative micro, small and medium enterprises, and establishing skills training through CSR funds are some measures that can create ‘local green jobs.
- These measures will improve the macroeconomic stability in such countries and can facilitate their integration into the global economy. The government’s diplomatic efforts should complement corporates’ actions in this direction.
- From a supply perspective, developed countries’ current commitment to climate finance is not commensurate with their GHG emissions. Their actual disbursements are far less than their declared commitments. Moreover, they tend to label private finance extended at market rates as their financial support for climate action.
- Thus, focused and consistent capital mobilisation for green initiatives has become a perpetual challenge for most LDCs and SIDs facing constraints like low per-capita income, volatile economy, lack of fiscal space, and low savings rate. It is worth noting that these countries have also committed to ambitious decarbonisation targets to capitulate to global pressures.
- As a principled player on the world stage, India can help them articulate such inconsistencies on global forums with assertiveness. This may lead to increased commitments and release of ‘real’ climate finances, especially for the post-2023 phase.
- The inability of LDCs and SIDs to fully leverage international public climate finance mechanisms, e.g., Green Climate Fund (GCF), is worrisome. Moreover, private capital providers are reluctant to invest in such economies due to a lack of bankable projects, and favourable eco-systems for ‘green-sectors’. Bridging such viability gaps is critical for the world.
- India can leverage its innovation and expertise in the financial sector to benefit such countries. It can also support them with capacity and institution building, best practices in financial governance, and infusion of climate action in economic policies.
- Acknowledging, identifying, and assessing the causes of gender-bias and inequality in the sector is the stepping stone towards mainstreaming gender in clean energy targets. Gender-specific challenges in energy transition emanates from socio-cultural biases that restrict women’s expression, ability to onboard to new opportunities, and freedom.
- There is a need for government departments such as the labour department, social welfare department, women and child development department, and other nodal agencies to collaborate and generate a comprehensive data and research evidence on the impact of the rapid energy transitions on women employment as well as the transformational role women can play in clean energy projects. This will allow the design of effective and targeted development schemes and programmes that could address the problem.
- Skilling of women, particularly in the Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) fields is extremely crucial. This is important given the fact that most of the renewable energy jobs are highly skilled in nature which requires expertise in STEM fields.
- Unless adequate trainings, certifications, and skill programmes are implemented focused on training, retaining, and incentivising women in STEM field, women workers will most likely be deployed for menial, temporary jobs such as helpers and support staff.
- An education regime encouraging women in STEM will help in creating a sizeable number of women leaders, managers, engineers, and technical workforce in green jobs associated with renewable energy solutions.
- The cultivation of a culture by the RE companies that fosters gender-responsive working. Adopting effective strategies that promote gender equity such as hiring policies that ensure inclusivity in the entire value chain as well as leadership roles will go a long way in welcoming structural reforms.
- India’s intricate support to LDCs and SIDs in creating project design, planning, execution, and controlling can improve the bankability of large-scale ‘green-programmes’, thus opening doors for the flow of finance.
- They are emeralds studded on the surface of our blue marble. Through its actions and demeanour, India can summon the world on a path of higher purpose: To soar above a constricted view of country-specific interests and realise that each of us can serve our interests better by working together as equals in reinvigorating multilateralism to shape our common future.
About MN Roy
- Manabendra Nath Roy or M.N Roy, is one of India’s more colourful and unusual international revolutionaries. A founding member of the Communist Party of India, he also established the Communist Party in 1917 in Mexico, hobnobbed with Joseph Stalin and fought the violent overthrow of British rule in India.
- The CPI, which split in 1964, may be in decline at present, but until 2009, it was a force to reckon with in Indian politics.
- Narendranath Bhattacharya, who later assumed the name Manabendra Nath Roy, was born 21 March 1887, at Arbelia (North 24 Parganas), West Bengal into a family of priests.
- At 14, Roy joined the underground revolutionary organisation Anushilan Samiti. After it was banned, he helped to organise the Jugantar Group under the leadership of Jatin Mukherjee.
- Roy described meeting Mukherjee as a turning point in his life. He wrote in My Experiences in China, “At that time I did not know what was the attraction…later on, I realised what attracted me: It was his personality.”
- Roy also participated in a series of political dacoities against British rule. In November 1908, he shot dead Nandalal Banerjee, the police officer who had arrested revolutionary Khudiram Bose. Bose (18) was hanged for an attempt to assassinate Douglas Kingsford, Chief Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta.
- In 1915, after World War I had begun, Roy made several trips to Indonesia, with help from German contacts, to procure arms to overthrow the British. In 1916, he landed in the United States.
- Roy was tracked so closely by British Intelligence that the day he landed at San Francisco, a local newspaper published a report headlined, “Mysterious Alien Reaches America, Famous Brahmin Revolutionary or Dangerous German Spy.”
- This forced him to flee south to Palo Alto, California. It was here that he changed his name from Narendranath Bhattacharya and became Manabendra Nath Roy.
- At New York, where he went from Palo Alto, Roy met Lala Lajpat Rai, the well-known nationalist leader of India. He developed friendships with several American radicals, and frequented the New York Public Library.
- Roy also went to public meetings with Lajpat Rai. Questions asked by the working-class audience in these meetings made Roy wonder whether exploitation and poverty would cease in India with the attainment of independence.
- Roy began a systematic study of socialism, originally with the intention of combating it, but he soon discovered that he had himself become a socialist! In the beginning, nurtured as he was on Bankimchandra, Vivekanand and orthodox Hindu philosophy, Roy accepted socialism except its materialist philosophy.
- When the United States participated in WWI, Roy was arrested for his anti-colonial leanings. He jumped bail and escaped to Mexico.
- In Mexico, he became a vocal advocate of the socialist state and founded the Mexican Communist Party in 1917.
- Roy was a restless spirit always on the move. Inspired by his experiences in Mexico, Roy founded the Communist Party of India in 1920 along with six other leaders at Tashkent now in Uzbekistan.
- Later in Mexico in 1919, Roy met Michael Borodin, an emissary of the Communist International. Roy and Borodin quickly became friends, and it was because of long discussions with Borodin that Roy accepted the materialist philosophy and became a full-fledged communist.
- In 1920, Roy was invited to Moscow to attend the second conference of the Communist International. Roy had several meetings with Lenin before the Conference. He differed with Lenin on the role of the local bourgeoisie in nationalist movements.
- On Lenin’s recommendation, the supplementary thesis on the subject prepared by Roy was adopted along with Lenin’s thesis by the second conference of the Communist International. The following years witnessed Roy’s rapid rise in the international communist hierarchy.
- By the end of 1926, Roy was elected as a member of all the four official policy making bodies of the Comintern – the presidium, the political secretariat, the executive committee and the world congress.
- In 1927, Roy was sent to China as a representative of the Communist International. However, Roy’s mission in China ended in a failure. On his return to Moscow from China, Roy found himself in official disfavour. In September 1929, he was expelled from the Communist International for “contributing to the Brandler press and supporting the Brandler organizations.” Roy felt that he was expelled from the Comintern mainly because of his “claim to the right of independent thinking.”
- Roy returned to India in 1930 and was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 1931 for his involvement in 1924 Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy case.
- Roy and other senior communist leaders, including S.A. Dange and Shaukat Usmani, were arrested for trying “to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from imperialistic Britain by a violent revolution.”
- While in jail, Roy wrote Prison Manuscripts, a set of nine thick volumes. These have not been published in total. They are preserved at Nehru Memorial Museum and National Archives of India, New Delhi.
- After his release in 1936, Roy joined the Indian National Congress. He left the party later in 1940 as a result of Congress’ reluctance to aid the British in World War II.
- In 1946, Roy established the Indian Renaissance Institute at Dehradun in order to develop the Indian Renaissance Movement.
- Roy died of a heart attack on 25 January 1954.
- Philosophy, according to Roy, is contemplation, study and knowledge of nature. Its function is “to know things as they are, and to find the common origin of the diverse phenomena of nature, in nature itself”.
- Philosophy, says Roy, begins when “spiritual needs” of human beings are no longer satisfied by primitive natural religion, which imagines and worships a variety of gods as personification of the diverse phenomena of nature. The grown-up human is no longer satisfied with the nursery-tales, with which “he was impressed in his spiritual childhood”. Intellectual growth emboldens him to seek the causes of all natural phenomena in nature itself and to “find in nature a unity behind its diversity.”
- In his book Science and Philosophy, Roy defines philosophy as “the theory of life”. The function of philosophy, in words of Roy, “is to solve the riddle of the Universe”. According to Roy, philosophy is born out of the efforts of man to explain nature and to understand his own relationship with it.
- Roy has made a distinction between philosophy and metaphysics. According to him, metaphysics also begins with the desire to discover the unity behind diversity. However, it leaves the ground of philosophy in its quest for a “noumenon” beyond nature, something that is distinct from “phenomena”.
- Thus, it abandons the inquiry into what really exists, and “plunges into the wilderness of speculation”. It takes up the absurd task of knowing the intangible, as the condition for the knowing the tangible.
- It is obvious that Roy was opposed to speculative philosophy, which set for itself the impossible task of prying into the transcendental being “above and behind” the physical universe – of acquiring the knowledge of the reality behind the appearance. According to Roy, an inquiry, which denies the very existence of the object to be enquired, is bound to end in idle dreams and hopeless confusion.
- Roy was opposed not only to speculative philosophy but also to the identification of philosophy with poetic fancy or theology and religion. According to him, for the average educated human, the term philosophy has a very vague meaning. It stands not only for speculative thought, but also for poetic fancy. Not only that, in India, philosophy is often not distinguished from religion and theology.
- “Indeed,” according to Roy, “what is generally believed to be the distinctive feature of Indian philosophy is that it has not broken away from the medieval tradition, as modern Western philosophy did in the seventeenth century.”
- According to Roy, faith in the supernatural does not allow the search for the causes of natural phenomena in nature itself. Therefore, rejection of orthodox religious ideas and theological dogmas is the precondition for philosophy.
- Roy was of the view that religion will certainly be liquidated by the rise of science, because scientific knowledge enables humankind to answer questions, confronted by which in its childhood, it was forced to assume super-natural forces or agencies. Therefore, according to Roy, in order to perform its function, “philosophy must break away from religion” and start from the reality of the physical universe.
- On the one hand, Roy regards rejection of orthodox religious ideas and theological dogmas as the essential precondition of philosophy, and on the other, he envisages a very intimate relationship between philosophy and science.
- In fact, according to Roy, the philosophical significance of modern scientific theory is to render untenable the old division of labor between science and philosophy. Science is, says Roy, stepping over the old boundary line, “Digging deeper and deeper into the secrets of nature, science has come up against problems, the solution of which was previously left to philosophy. Scientific inquiry has pushed into what is traditionally regarded as the ‘metaphysical’ realm.”
- The problems of philosophy – cosmology, ontology and epistemology – can all be progressively solved, according to Roy, in the light of scientific knowledge. The function of philosophy is, points out Roy, to explain existence as a whole.
- An explanation of existence requires knowledge of existence. Knowledge about the different phases of existence is being gathered by the various branches of science. Therefore, says Roy, the function of philosophy is to coordinate an entire body of scientific knowledge into a comprehensive theory of nature and life.
- Philosophy can now exist only as the science of sciences – a systematic coordination, a synthesis of all positive knowledge, continuously readjusting itself to progressive enlargement of the store of human knowledge. A mystic metaphysical conception of the world is no longer to be accorded the distinction of philosophy.
- Thus, according to Roy, philosophy is a logical coordination of all the branches of positive knowledge in a system of thought to explain the world rationally and to serve as a reliable guide for life.
- “New Humanism” is the name given by Roy to the “new philosophy of revolution” which he developed in the later part of his life. This philosophy has been summarized by Roy in the “Twenty-Two Theses” and elaborated in his New Humanism – A Manifesto.
- New Humanism, as presented in the Twenty-Two Theses, has both a critical and a constructive aspect. The critical aspect consists of describing the inadequacies of communism (including the economic interpretation of history), and of formal parliamentary democracy.
- The constructive aspect, on the other hand, consists of giving highest value to the freedom of individual, presenting a humanist interpretation of history, and outlining a picture of radical or organized democracy along with the way for achieving the ideal of radical democracy.
- Apart from Roy’s effort to trace the quest for freedom and search for truth to the biological struggle for existence. The basic idea of the first three theses of Roy is individualism. According to Roy, the central idea of the Twenty-Two Theses is that political philosophy must start from the basic idea that the individual is prior to society, and freedom can be enjoyed only by individuals.
- The question of freedom and search for truth, according to Roy, constitute the basic urge of human progress. The purpose of all-rational human endeavour, individual as well as collective, is attainment of freedom in ever-increasing measure. The amount of freedom available to individuals is the measure of social progress.
- Roy refers back to the quest for freedom to human beings’ struggle for existence, and he regards the search for truth as a corollary to this quest. Reason, according to Roy, is a biological property, and it is not opposed to human will. Morality, which originates from the rational desire for harmonious and mutually beneficial social relations, is rooted in the innate rationality of man.
- In his humanist interpretation of history, presented in theses, Roy gives an important place to human will as a determining factor in history, and emphasizes the role of ideas in the process of social evolution.
- Formation of ideas is, according to Roy, a physiological process but once formed, ideas exist by themselves and are governed by their own laws. The dynamics of ideas runs parallel to the process of social evolution and both of them influence each other.
- Cultural patterns and ethical values are not mere super structures of established economic relations. They have a history and logic of their own.
- Roy’s criticism of communism, contained in theses seven to eleven is based mainly on the experience of the former Soviet Union, particularly the “discrepancy between the ideal and the reality of the socialist order.”
- According to Roy, freedom does not necessarily follow from the capture of political power in the name of the oppressed and the exploited classes and abolition of private property in the means of production. For creating a new world of freedom, revolution must go beyond an economic reorganization of society.
- A political system and an economic experiment which subordinate the man of flesh and blood to an imaginary collective ego, be it the nation or class, cannot possibly be, in Roy’s view, the suitable means for the attainment of the goal of freedom.
- The Marxian doctrine of state, according to which the state is an instrument of exploitation of one class by another, is clearly rejected by Roy. According to Roy, the state is “the political organization of society” and “its withering away under communism is a utopia which has been exploded by experience”.
- Similarly, Roy rejects the communist doctrine of the dictatorship of the proletariat. “Dictatorship of any form, however plausible may be the pretext for it, is,” asserts Roy, “excluded by the Radical-Humanist perspective of social revolution”.
- Roy has discussed the shortcomings of formal parliamentary democracy in his twelfth and thirteenth theses. These flaws, according to Roy, are the outcome of the delegation of power.
- Atomized individual citizens are, in Roy’s view, powerless for all practical purposes, and for most of the time. They have no means to exercise their sovereignty and to wield standing control of the state machinery.
- “To make democracy effective,” says Roy, “power must always remain vested in the people and there must be ways and means for the people to wield sovereign power effectively, not periodically, but from day to day.”
- Thus, Roy’s ideal of radical democracy, as outlined in theses fourteen to twenty-two, consists of a highly decentralized democracy based on a network of people’s committees through which citizens wield a standing democratic control over the state.
- Roy has not ignored the economic aspect of his ideal of radical democracy. He argued that progressive satisfaction of material necessities is the pre-condition for the individual members of society unfolding their intellectual and other finer human potentialities.
- According to him, an economic reorganization, which will guarantee a progressively rising standard of living, is the foundation of the Radical Democratic State. “Economic liberation of the masses”, says Roy, “is an essential condition for their advancing towards the goal of freedom.”
- The ideal of radical democracy will be attained, according to Roy, through the collective efforts of mentally free men united and determined for creating a world of freedom. They will function as the guides, friends and philosophers of the people rather than as their would-be rulers. Consistent with the goal of freedom, their political practice will be rational and, therefore, ethical.
- Roy categorically asserts that a social renaissance can come only through determined and widespread endeavour to educate the people as regards the principles of freedom and rational co-operative living.
- Social revolution, according to Roy, requires a rapidly increasing number of men of the new renaissance, and a rapidly expanding system of people’s committees and an organic combination of both. The program of revolution will similarly be based on the principles of freedom, reason and social harmony.
- As pointed out by Roy himself in his preface to the second edition of the New Humanism: A Manifesto, though new humanism has been presented in the twenty-two theses and the Manifesto as a political philosophy, it is meant to be a complete system.
- Because of being based on the ever-expanding totality of scientific knowledge, a new humanism cannot be a closed system. “It will not be”, says Roy, “a dogmatic system claiming finality and infallibility.”
- It is obvious from the foregoing that Roy was a great supporter of philosophical revolution or renaissance, and he has given a central place to it in his radical humanism. Roy was an admirer of European renaissance and drew inspiration from it. For him, “the renaissance was the revolt of man against God and his agents on this earth”.
- According to Roy, the renaissance “heralded the modern civilization and the philosophy of freedom”. He strongly believed that India, too, needed a renaissance on rationalist and humanist lines.
- According to him, this was a necessary condition for democracy to function in a proper manner. He believed that “a new Renaissance based on rationalism and cosmopolitan humanism” was essential for democracy to be realized.
- According to Roy, a philosophical revolution must precede a social revolution. He was opposed to blind faith and superstitions of all kinds and supported rationalism. As a physical realist, he rejected all allegedly supernatural entities like God and soul.
- Similarly, he was opposed to fatalism and the doctrine of karma. He unequivocally rejected the religious mode of thinking and advocated a scientific outlook and a secular morality. As noted earlier, he was in favor of delinking philosophy with religion and associating it closely with science. He believed that science would ultimately liquidate religion.
- According to Roy, a revolutionary is one who has got the idea that the world can be remade, made better than it is today, that it was not created by a supernatural power, and therefore, could be remade by human efforts.
- Further, according to Roy, “the idea of improving upon the creation of God can never occur to God-fearing. We can conceive of the idea only when we know that all gods are our own creation, and we can depose whomsoever we have enthroned.”
- Roy’s critical approach towards religion comes out very clearly in the preface of his book, India’s Message, where he asserts that a criticism of religious thought and a searching analysis of traditional beliefs and the time-honoured dogmas of religion is essential for the belated Renaissance of India. “The spirit of inquiry should overwhelm the respect for tradition.”
- According to Roy, “a critical examination of what is cherished as India’s cultural heritage will enable the Indian people to cast off the chilly grip of a dead past. It will embolden them to face the ugly realities of a living present and look forward to a better, brighter and pleasanter future.” Thus, Roy was opposed to an uncritical and vain glorification of India’s so-called “spiritual” heritage.
- However, he did not stand for a wholesale rejection of ancient Indian thought either. He favored a rational and critical approach towards ancient traditions and thoughts. Roy believed that the object of European renaissance was to rescue the positive contributions of ancient European civilization, which were lying buried in the Middle Ages owing to the dominance of the Church. Roy had something similar in his mind about India.
- According to him, one of the tasks of the Renaissance movement should be to rescue the positive outcome and abiding contributions of ancient thought – contributions, which just like the contributions of Greek sages, are lying in ruins under the decayed structure of the Brahmanical Society – the tradition of which is erroneously celebrated as the Indian civilization.
- Roy was a former Marxist and a hero of Indian communists for having rubbed shoulders with Lenin and Stalin. However, he later gave up Marxism and advocated his own “radical humanism”.
- Naturally, he has been criticized generally by Marxists and communists for renouncing Marxism as well as for finding fault with communist doctrines like “the dictatorship of the proletariat”.
- Nonetheless, there was a small group of intellectuals who collaborated closely with him in preparing the “Twenty-two Theses on Radical Democracy” and New Humanism: A Manifesto; namely, V. M. Tarkunde, Phillip Spratt, Laxman Shastri Joshi, Sibnarayan Ray, G. D. Parikh, G. R. Dalvi, Sikander Choudhary and Ellen Roy (Roy’s wife). Some of them like Tarkunde, Sibnarayan Ray and G. D. Parikh remained active in the radical humanist movement launched by Roy and also wrote and edited books on him.
- Among the journals founded by M. N. Roy, The Humanist Way, has ceased publication, but The Radical Humanist is still being published as a monthly by the Indian Renaissance Institute. It was edited for a long time by Tarkunde. Since Tarkunde, it has been edited by R. M. Pal and R. A. Jahagirdar among others.
- Outside the select group of Roy’s close friends and associates, A. B. Shah, founder of the Indian Secular Society and The Secularist journal was one of the important intellectuals influenced by Roy’s ideas.
- Some of his final ideas are open to criticism even from a humanist perspective. For example, Roy’s use of the word “spiritual” in certain contexts is problematic. Roy talks of “spiritual needs” and “spiritual childhood” of human beings, when, in fact, he was a materialist. He was at pains to emphasize that reality is “physical as against mental or spiritual”.
- As a materialist, he was also opposed to the vain glorification of the so-called “spiritual” heritage of India. Apparently, Roy has used the word “spiritual” in phrases like “spiritual needs” and “spiritual childhood” in the sense of “intellectual.”
- Nonetheless, the use of the term “spiritual” by Roy even in these contexts could be misleading, considering the fact that he did not believe in the existence of soul and spirit.
- Roy’s advocacy of party-less democracy, too, is open to criticism. Freedom of association is a fundamental democratic freedom. In any democracy worth the name, citizens with similar political ideas and programs are bound to come together and cooperate with one another by forming political parties and other non-party organizations.
- The only possible way to prevent them from doing so will be to deny the fundamental right to association, which will be an undemocratic act in itself. Therefore, the ideal of “party-less democracy” seems to be self-contradictory, impractical and unrealizable.
Wolf Conservation in Ladakh
- Wolves are one of the few top and wide-ranging predators across the trans-Himalayan region. Hence, they could serve as indicators and umbrella species of this ecosystem.
- The Tibetan wolf is one of the world’s most ancient species and is critically endangered in the country, protected as a Schedule I animal under the Wildlife Protection Act.
- Out of 32 sub-species of wolves that are recognised, two are believed to inhabit the Indian subcontinent: the Tibetan Wolf, whose range extends from trans-Himalaya into Tibet and China, and the Indian wolf that ranges over peninsular India.
- Dean of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and wolf expert, says lineages of wolves in India are some of the most ancient in the world.
- Unlike the Indian wolf, which we know numbers around 3,000, there is not enough data on the Tibetan wolf. Although one scientific paper has estimated that there are 500 of them. This is because the nature of the topography in Ladakh, which is remote and formidable, makes a survey difficult to conduct.
- Both sub-species are critically endangered and yet, there are no conservation projects launched by the Government for wolves.
- The Trans-Himalayan region, including the Tibetan plateau and its marginal mountains, is a vast rangeland system (>2.6 million km2), which has been home to traditional livestock grazing for several millennia.
- These rangelands are also home to large carnivores, including snow leopards Panthera uncia, wolves Canis lupus and Eurasian Lynx Lynx lynx.
- Livestock depredation by large carnivores and their retaliatory or preventive killing is an important livelihood and conservation concern in the region.
- People in the region are reported to have a particularly negative attitude toward wolves.
- Traditionally, the people of the trans-Himalayan region have used various means to protect their livestock against wolf attacks.
- Amongst the most prominent means of trying to control wolf populations is a traditional trapping pit, locally called Shandong.
- Other means of persecuting wolves have also been traditionally employed in the region, including leg-hold traps.
- Shangdong are traditional trapping pits with inverted funnel-shaped stone walls, usually built near villages or herder camps. Typically, a live domestic animal is placed in the pit to attract wolves. Once the wolves jump into the pit, the walls prevent them from escaping. The trapped wolves are usually stoned to death.
- In a survey covering over 25,000 sq km, 94 Shandong in 58 of the 64 surveyed villages in Leh district between June 2019 and March 2020. Thirty of these had been used to kill wolves in the past 10 years.
- Some villages had more than one Shangdong. They would be built near winter grazing grounds, or near corrals where sheep or goats were kept.
- Apart from keeping a goat or sheep in the Shangdong as bait, sometimes villagers would capture wolf cubs and keep them in the Shangdong to kill the mother wolf that would come to the cubs’ aid.
- A Stupa is a mound-like or hemispherical structure which contains relics like idols, religious text, or the remains of Buddhist monks/nuns. They may be used as a place of meditation.
- The shape of a Stupa supposedly represents the Buddha and there is belief that a Stupa may represent the five purified elements according to Buddhism:
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- the base, often a square, represents the earth,
- the hemispherical dome/vase represents water,
- the conical spire represents fire,
- the upper parasol represents air, and
- The dissolving point represents wisdom. Buddhists across Ladakh circumambulate the Stupas as an important ritual and devotional practice.
- In certain areas of Ladakh, Stupas also play an economic role in the community by attracting tourists.
- The Chushul community was enthusiastic about the possibility of neutralizing Shandong, committing to conservation, and under the Rimpoche’s guidance, collectively building a Stupa.
- In 2017, the local community members and their political representatives from the pastoral village of Chushul talk about the possibility of neutralizing their Shandong while preserving and maintaining them as part of the cultural heritage.
- In June 2018, the Chushul neighborhood neutralised all of the 4 Shandong of their space and constructed a Stupa subsequent to one. The subsequent year, the Rumptse neighborhood within the Gya-Miru area of Changthang adopted go well with — as did the Himya neighborhood in 2021.
- The blocks of Changthang, Rong, and Sham have been chosen based mostly on proof from literature, native information and Wildlife officers who confirmed that wolf-human battle right here was excessive
- The village councils have now begun creating insurance schemes, as part of a pilot project launched by NCF, to compensate for livestock loss to wolves. Wolves hunt in packs and target even bigger animals like Yak, cattle or horses, thus causing higher financial losses. Killing one horse would cost a villager between Rs 60,000-80,000.
- Under the insurance programme, the amount contributed by each villager can range from Rs 1,200-2,400 annually for each animal, which can take the village corpus to Rs 30,000-1 lakh collectively in a year.
- For instance, one has to provide proof that a wolf has killed livestock. Then, to apply for compensation, villagers need to travel to Leh town, which is hundreds of kilometres away — they would often have to trek for two-three days even before reaching a road to Leh. It is far more economical to simply kill the wolf.
- The insurance amount is collected annually and the pay-out is also annual, based on an assessment of how many animals are killed during the year.
- Ladakh is a region administered by India as a union territory, which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947.
- Ladakh is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east, the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh to the south, both the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan to the west, and the southwest corner of Xinjiang across the Karakoram Pass in the far north.
- It extends from the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram range to the north to the main Great Himalayas to the south. The eastern end, consisting of the uninhabited Aksai Chin plains, is claimed by the Indian Government as part of Ladakh, and has been under Chinese control since 1962.
- The largest town in Ladakh is Leh, followed by Kargil, each of which headquarters a district. The Leh district contains the Indus, Shyok and Nubra river valleys. The Kargil district contains the Suru, Dras and Zanskar river valleys.
- The main populated regions are the river valleys, but the mountain slopes also support the pastoral Changpa nomads.
- The main religious groups in the region are Muslims (mainly Shia) (46%), Buddhists (mainly Tibetan Buddhists) (40%), Hindus (12%) and others (2%). Ladakh is one of the most sparsely populated regions in India. Its culture and history are closely related to that of Tibet.
- Ladakh was established as a union territory of India on 31 October 2019, following the passage of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act. Prior to that, it was part of Jammu and Kashmir state. Ladakh is the largest and the second least populous union territory of India.
About Bihar Diwas
- On March 22, the people of Bihar celebrate Bihar Diwas to mark the formation of the state. Bihar was carved out of Bengal in the year 1912 by the British government.
- This year Bihar Diwas theme is 'Jal, Jeevan, Hariyali'.
- Every year the Government of Bihar issues a notification declaring the 22 March to be a public holiday to be celebrated as Bihar Day and all the schools, colleges, offices are kept closed.
- This holiday applies to all the offices and companies under the jurisdiction of the State and central Government as well as Schools celebrate this day by organising various programmes participated by students.
- Bihar Divas is an annual celebration that marks the foundation day of the east Indian state of Bihar.
- Bihar was an important region for Buddhists, with many stupas and pillars erected by the Great Emperor Ashoka as a tribute to the Buddha.
- The National symbol which adorns Indian currency, the Four-Headed Lion was erected atop an Ashokan Pillar that once stood in Bihar. Bihar can also claim the oldest Hindu temple of India still in use at Mundeswari, which dates back to 625 CE.
- Following the Battle of Buxar in October 1764, the British East India Company defeated the Mughal Empire and obtained the rights to administer, and collect revenue or tax for Bihar, Bengal and Odisha.
- On March 22nd 1912, Bihar state was carved out from the Bengal Presidency of British India. Orissa also became a state as part of this break-up.
- The celebration officially began in 2011 and since then it has become a state festival full of fervour and festivity depicting the image and spirit of Bihar.
- Gala functions will be organised across the State. Cultural extravaganzas are being organised at a panchayat (town and village) level to involve people's participation in large numbers.
- To commemorate Bihar's Foundation Day, the State Government of Bihar organises Bihar Utsav, a fortnight-long cultural festival that showcases art, culture, and heritage from Bihar at Dilli Haat in Delhi.
- In India, Bihar is the third largest state by population and the 12th largest state by territory.
- Bihar state in India is also the world’s fourth most populous subnational entity.
- Bihar is also the very first place in India where the concept of non-violence had originated which later took center stage in the history of mankind. It is known that Lord Buddha and Lord Mahavira upraised the awareness towards non-violence around 2,600 years ago.
- Only 11.3% of the Bihar population lives in urban areas, which is the lowest in the country after Himachal Pradesh.
- Bihar has also the highest proportion of young people in any Indian State. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25.
- The Bihar Diwas celebration officially began in the year 2011 and since then it has become a state festival full of fervour, zest, and celebration depicting the spirit and picture of Bihar.
- The main objective of the day is to restore the pride of the East Indian state and to enthuse the feeling of Being Bihari in the citizens of the state. Thenceforth, the day is much more than just a celebration.
- Bihar Diwas holiday applies to all the major offices and companies under the jurisdiction of the State and Central Government, as well as academic institutions like Schools, celebrate the day by organising various cultural programs and functions participated by students.
- Apart from India, it is celebrated in countries including the United States, Germany, Britain (Scotland), Australia, Canada, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Trinidad and Tobago and Mauritius. Thus, it helps to maintain harmony among people in India as well as in foreign nations as well.
- It will help to harness a region's culture and people face cultural assimilation with others as well.
- It will help the region to enhance its economic opportunities via expanding employment opportunities, remittances and tourism through the development of cultural sites for tourism.
- It helps people remember its historical dynasties, the region’s participation in various battles for independence and the freedom fighters who lose their bloods in fighting against the Britishers.
- It displays various progress sectors of the state culturally, socio-economically, politically as well as technically.
About World Water Day
- World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, focuses on the importance of freshwater.
- World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
- Just 29 of 54 African countries have made some progress over the past three to five years, the assessment, published by the UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH).
- The report defines water security as: The capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being and socio-economic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and water-related disasters and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability.
- In fact, not a single country or sub-region has yet achieved the highest level of ‘model’ or even the reasonably high ‘effective’ stages of national water security.
- All country scores are below 70 (on a scale of 100) except for Egypt. Only 13 of 54 countries reached a modest level of water security in recent years and over a third have been deemed to have levels of water security below the threshold of 45.
- Africa’s average basic drinking water service is 71 per cent, “leaving behind some 29 per cent of the total population” or more than 353 million people. This translates to three out of every ten people without access to basic drinking water services.
- At a sub-regional level, access to drinking water ranged from 92 per cent in North Africa to 62 per cent in central Africa.
- In Seychelles and most countries in North Africa, 100 per cent of the population has access to sanitation. In comparison, just 20 per cent of the population in Chad and Ethiopia has access to sanitation. In fact, 40 per cent of Africa’s total population or 483 million people lack sanitation.
- Rwanda and Liberia rank lowest among eight countries with less than 10 per cent access to hygiene facilities and practices.
- According to the UNU-INWEH analysis, 50 per cent of North African countries appear to be absolutely water scarce, having less than 500 cubic metres of water per capita per annum.
- Population growth alone is projected to cause a sharp decline in water availability in most African countries, while economic development will increase water use, making the water supply gap even more challenging to address.
- Africa’s average per capita water storage capacity has increased by just three per cent in over five recent years.
- The main causes of water scarcity in Africa are physical and economic scarcity, rapid population growth, and climate change. Water scarcity is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand.
- Although Sub-Saharan Africa has a plentiful supply of rainwater, it is seasonal and unevenly distributed, leading to frequent floods and droughts.
- Additionally, prevalent economic development and poverty issues, compounded with rapid population growth and rural-urban migration have rendered Sub-Saharan Africa as the world's poorest and least developed region.
- Water pollution is yet another cause of water scarcity. The sources of water pollution include pesticides and fertilizers that wash away from farms, industrial and human waste that is directly dumped into rivers without treating it in water treatment plants. Oil spills on the ground, waste water leakage from landfills can seep underground and may pollute the groundwater making it unfit for human consumption.
- Agriculture uses the majority of available freshwater. The sad thing is that about 60% of this water gets wasted due to inefficient agriculture methods and leaky irrigation systems. In addition to this, pesticides and fertilizers are washed away in rivers and lakes that further affect human and animal population.
- Water scarcity is both a natural and human-made phenomenon. It is thus essential to break it down into two general types: Economic scarcity and physical scarcity. Economic scarcity refers to the fact that finding a reliable source of safe water is time-consuming and expensive. Alternatively, physical scarcity is when there simply is not enough water within a given region.
- Included in the category of physical scarcity is the issue of overexploitation. This is contributing to the shrinking of many of Africa's great lakes, including the Nakivale, Nakuru, and Lake Chad, which has shrunk to 10% of its former volume.
- For ground water, once the pump is installed, the policy of many countries is to only constrain removal based on the cost of electricity, and in many cases subsidize electricity costs for agricultural uses, which damages incentives to conserve such resources. Additionally, many countries within Africa set the cost of water well below cost-recovery levels, thus discouraging efficient usage and threatening sustainability.
- Climate change includes both the global warming driven by human emissions of greenhouse gases, and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Climate change is disrupting weather patterns, leading to extreme weather events, unpredictable water availability, exacerbating water scarcity and contaminating water supplies.
- The most immediately apparent impact of water scarcity in Africa is on the continent's health. According to the World Health Organization, contributes to the spread of waterborne diseases including typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery and diarrhoea, and to the spread of diseases such as malaria whose vectors rely on such water resources, and can lead to diseases such as trachoma, plague, and typhus.
- Additionally, water scarcity causes many people to store water within the household, which increases the risk of household water contamination and incidents of malaria and dengue fever spread by mosquitoes. Those living with less developed or non-existent water infrastructure, natural, untreated water sources often contain tiny disease-carrying worms and bacteria.
- Along with waterborne diseases and unsafe drinking water, malnutrition is also a major cause of death in Africa. Some of the malnutrition is caused by reduced agricultural production in some regions of Africa due to water scarcity. According to a 2008 review an estimated 178 million children under age 5 are stunted, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. The cause of stunting is undernutrition in children.
- In most African societies, women are seen as the collectors, managers, and guardians of water, especially within the domestic sphere that includes household chores, cooking, washing, and child rearing. Because of these traditional gender labour roles, women are forced to spend around sixty percent of each day collecting water, which translates to approximately 200 million collective work hours by women globally per day and a decrease in the amount of time available for education.
- This has health consequences such as permanent skeletal damage from carrying heavy loads of water over long distances each day, which translates to a physical strain that contributes to increased stress, increased time spent in health recovery, and decreased ability to not only physically attend educational facilities, but also mentally absorb education due to the effect of stress on decision-making and memory skills.
- The detriment water scarcity has on educational attainment for women, in turn, affects the social and economic capital of women in terms of leadership, earnings, and working opportunities. As a result of this, many women are unable to hold employment. The lost number of potential school days and education hinders the next generation of African women from breaking out of the cycle of unequal opportunity for gainful employment, which serves to perpetuate the prevalence of unequal opportunity for African women and adverse effects associated with lacking income from gainful employment.
- Because the majority of Africa remains dependent on an agricultural lifestyle and 80% to 90% of all families in rural Africa rely upon producing their own food, water scarcity translates to a loss of food security. Water, agriculture, nutrition, and health have always been linked but recently became recognized and researched as a cause-and-effect loop.
- More than 70% of agriculture practiced in Sub-Saharan Africa is rainfed agriculture. With the increasing variability of current weather patterns, the crops and harvests are more prone to being affected by droughts and floods. Food and nutrition security is defining the development agenda in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Additionally, lack of water causes many Africans to use wastewater for crop growth, causing a large number of people to consume foods that can contain chemicals or disease-causing organisms transferred by the wastewater.
- Within this poverty trap, people are subjected to low incomes, high fixed costs of water supply facilities, and lack of credit for water investments, which results in a low level of investment in water and land resources, lack of investment in profit-generating activities, resource degradation, and chronic poverty.
- Compounding on this, in the slums of developing countries, poor people typically pay five to ten times more per unit of water than do people with access to piped water because of issues – including the lack of infrastructure and government corruption – which is estimated to raise the prices of water services by 10% to 30%.
- Population growth across the world and climate change are two factors that together could give rise to water conflicts in many parts of the world. Already, the explosion of populations in developing nations within Africa combined with climate change is causing extreme strain within and between nations. In the past, countries have worked to resolve water tensions through negotiation, but there is predicted to be an escalation in aggression over water accessibility.
- To adequately address the issue of water scarcity in Africa, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa emphasizes the need to invest in the development of Africa's potential water resources to reduce unnecessary suffering, ensure food security, and protect economic gains by effectively managing droughts, floods, and desertification. Ongoing efforts to achieve this include an emphasis on infrastructural implementations and improvements of wells, rainwater catchment systems, and clean-water storage tanks.
- Some non-profit organizations have focused on the aspect of drinking water contamination from sewage waste by installing cost-effective and relatively maintenance-free toilets, such as Drop In The Bucket's "Eco-sanitation Flush Toilet" or Pump Aid's "Elephant Toilet". All three designs are built to aid communities in drawing clean water from wells. The hand pump is the most basic and simple to repair, with replacement parts easily found.
- Moving beyond sanitary waste disposal and pumps, clean water technology can now be found in the form of drinking straw filtration. Used as solution by Water Is Life, the straw is small, portable, and costs US$10 per unit. The filtration device is designed to eliminate waterborne diseases, and as a result, provide safe drinking water for one person for one year.
- Some regions in African countries, like Tanzania, have attempted to address issues with water scarcity by instituting a water permit system. Under such a system, local rules are used to grant users access to a certain amount of water at certain locations. However, such systems often result in additional conflict, as water rights can be monopolized by large-scale irrigators at the expense of smallholder farmers in the region.
- Increase awareness and education about water scarcity.
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- It’s critical to generate awareness about the crisis and motivate people, businesses, and government agencies to take action. This includes educating people about the scope and impact of water scarcity, how to conserve water, and how to support water organizations helping people get access to clean water.
- Invest in innovative technologies.
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- There are promising new technologies like wastewater recycling, energy-efficient desalination plants, solar and UV water filtration, nanofiltration, and rainwater harvesting systems that can help address water scarcity.
- Make agricultural irrigation more efficient.
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- Almost 70 percent of our fresh water is used in agriculture. Enhanced soil moisture sensors, monitoring, weather stations, and communications systems can provide more accurate data to ensure water is not wasted. Growing less water-intensive crops should also be explored.
- Improve water infrastructure.
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- In the US, 2.1 trillion gallons of clean water are lost each year because of failing infrastructure. This not only wastes water, it wastes money. Innovative water distribution management technologies like leak detection and analytics solutions can increase a utility’s efficiency, reduce labor costs and minimize leaks.
- Reduce water pollution.
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- Stopping industry and individuals from dumping toxic substances into our water supplies and being able to accurately monitor water quality are critical steps to improving access to clean water. Consumers should dispose of toxic substances safely rather than pour them down the drain. Besides, improving the sewage systems in specific areas is another way to prevent water scarcity from becoming any worse.
- Encourage water conservation.
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- Install water-saving fixtures and appliances.
- Replace a high-flow showerhead with low-flow ones.
- Use a broom to clean sidewalks instead of water hoses.
- Rainwater harvesting and recycled wastewater also allow to reduce scarcity and ease pressures on groundwater and other natural water bodies. Groundwater recharge, that allows water to move from surface water to groundwater, is a well-known process to prevent water scarcity.
- Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region. It already affects every continent and around 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of every year. More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
- Water conservation is one of the leading ways to grow out of water scarcity. It is an indirect approach to reducing water demands and it is usually critical in maintaining the supply-demand balance. During droughts and in densely populated regions, for instance, water conservation efforts ensure there is a supply-demand balance. The approaches can easily be implemented as they involve simple ways of saving water.
- For water conservation to be effective enough, it has to work hand in hand with water management policies. There are organizations located all over the world that are looking to bring clean water to areas that don’t have it. Consider donating to these organizations, either with your time, your skills, or your finances.
About World Water Day 2022
- World Water Day, held on 22 March every year since 1993, focuses on the importance of freshwater.
- World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water. It is about taking action to tackle the global water crisis. A core focus of World Water Day is to support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030.
- This 2022, the focus is groundwater, an invisible resource with an impact visible everywhere.
- Groundwater is water found underground in aquifers, which are geological formations of rocks, sands and gravels that hold substantial quantities of water.
- Groundwater feeds springs, rivers, lakes and wetlands, and seeps into oceans. Groundwater is recharged mainly from rain and snowfall infiltrating the ground. Groundwater can be extracted to the surface by pumps and wells.
- Life would not be possible without groundwater. Most arid areas of the world depend entirely on groundwater.
- Groundwater supplies a large proportion of the water we use for drinking, sanitation, food production and industrial processes.
- It is also critically important to the healthy functioning of ecosystems, such as wetlands and rivers.
- We must protect them from overexploitation – abstracting more water than is recharged by rain and snow - and the pollution that currently haunts them, since it can lead to the depletion of this resource, extra-costs of processing it, and sometimes even preventing its use.
- Exploring, protecting and sustainably using groundwater will be central to surviving and adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population.
- The intergovernmental organisation called for governments to build sustainable models to harness the potential of groundwater.
- The quality of groundwater is generally good, which means it can be used safely and affordably, without requiring advanced levels of treatment.
- India is the largest groundwater-user globally, at an estimated 251 cubic kilometres per year, followed by China and Pakistan, according to the report.
- The groundwater potential can be used sustainably by investments in infrastructure, institutions, trained professionals and knowledge of the resource. The development of groundwater could act as a catalyst for economic growth by increasing the extent of irrigated areas and therefore, improving agricultural yields and crop diversity.
- As many as eight of the 10 countries with the highest shares of global groundwater withdrawal volume are in Asia and two in North America (United States and Mexico).
- These 10 countries account for 75 per cent of the total groundwater use. The other Asian countries in the list are Iran, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
- India uses 89 per cent of the total groundwater abstracted per year for agriculture — also the highest in the world.
- Globally, 69 per cent of the total volume is abstracted for use in the agricultural sector, 22 per cent for domestic uses and 9 per cent for industrial purposes, the report showed.
- Groundwater presently provides half the volume of water withdrawn for domestic use by the global population. This includes drinking water for the vast majority of the rural population who do not get their water delivered to them via public or private supply systems, as well as around 25 per cent of all water used for irrigation.
- Unabated groundwater depletion in agricultural areas is becoming an issue of increasing concern regionally and globally as it threatens to undermine food security, basic water supply, environmental integrity and climate resilience.
- It is estimated that about 11 per cent (or 25 km³ / year) global groundwater depletion is embedded in international crop trade, supporting food security and economic growth, but also significantly contributing to large-scale depletion of aquifers overlaid by productive land.
- Wheat, maize, rice, sugarcane, cotton and fodder are the principal crops contributing to groundwater depletion. These crops are heavily traded, indicating highly unsustainable water footprints from intensive export. Five countries account for about 70 per cent of the unsustainable water footprint: China, India, Iran, Pakistan and US.
- Compounds of arsenic and fluorine formed under certain conditions in the aquifers are the major sources of Geogenic(natural) groundwater pollution.
- The sources (or causes) of groundwater pollution can be landfills, effluents released from industries or wastewater treatment plants, leakage from sewers, petrol filling stations, or fertilizers/pesticides used in agriculture.
- Also, animal manure may also contain pharmaceutical pollutants if the animals were subjected to veterinary treatments.
- Leakage from the underground industrial pipes and oil tanks is also causing groundwater pollution around industrial areas. Mining of ore and metal may introduce toxic metals like arsenic into the groundwater due to improper waste disposal.
- Groundwater depletion most commonly occurs because of the frequent pumping of water from the ground. We pump the water more quickly than it can renew itself, leading to a dangerous shortage in the groundwater supply. As a growing world with a population that continues to rise, the more we pump water from the ground at a rapid rate, the more difficult it is for the groundwater to provide us with the amount of water that we need.
- Agricultural needs require a large amount of groundwater. It’s frightening to think that there isn’t very much groundwater left when you consider how much water we use on a daily basis to support our population of billions and our personal lifestyles. A large amount of groundwater goes to farming, but the availability of groundwater is steadily declining.
- Groundwater depletion will force us to pump water from deeper within the Earth. The more we extract groundwater right below the Earth’s surface, the further down we have to go in order to get more. Consequently, we will have to use even more resources to develop alternative methods to reach further into the ground.
- Large bodies of water will become shallower from groundwater depletion. A groundwater shortage keeps additional water from flowing into lakes, rivers and seas. This means that over time, less water will enter as the existing surface water continues to evaporate. As the water becomes less deep, it will affect everything in that particular region, including fish and wildlife.
- Saltwater contamination can occur. We may pump groundwater instead of sourcing it from lakes and rivers, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t connected to larger bodies of water. Groundwater that is deep within the ground often intermingles with saltwater that we shouldn’t drink. When freshwater mixes with saltwater, it is called saltwater contamination. This sort of contamination would raise the prices of drinking water for everyone because it will cost much more to pump and filter.
- As large aquifers are depleted, food supply and people will suffer. The depletion of the Colorado River and the Ogallala aquifer serve as examples of large groundwater reserves that are being depleted, despite how necessary they are to our economy and well-being.
- A lack of groundwater limits biodiversity and dangerous sinkholes result from depleted aquifers. Aquifers collect groundwater and are extremely important. For example, the residents near the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico City rely solely on aquifers.
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- Wildlife, marine animals, and agriculture continues to suffer near the Gulf of Mexico because the Mississippi River runoff from industrial farming materials finds its way into the water. Parts of Mexico City are falling as the water table lowers and creates sinkholes that destroy buildings and homes.
- For unlocking groundwater’s full potential, the report recommends a few pointers:
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- Collecting groundwater data as groundwater monitoring is often a ‘neglected area’
- Strengthening environmental regulations for groundwater pollution
- Reinforcing human, material and financial resources by way of increasing groundwater professionals among the staff of institutions as well as local and national government
- Financing and supporting groundwater departments or agencies.
- Improving the way, we use and manage groundwater is an urgent priority if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030
- The management of groundwater requires increased management and governance capacity at multiple integrated levels and in intersectoral approaches.
- We should reduce our use of chemicals and dispose of them properly. Many people are not paying attention and are simply unaware of how important it is to keep pollution from occurring beneath the ground. The water from businesses and private residences that run into the streets and sewage systems are commonly laden with chemicals. These chemicals find their way into larger bodies of water and absorb into the ground, poisoning animals and the soil. By using less chemicals and discarding them carefully, we keep them from adding toxic materials into our water supply.
- More comprehensive research and additional funding can help with groundwater depletion. The best way to approach the topic of groundwater depletion and to find a solution is to think on both a personal and government level. Laws that are in place for the pumping of groundwater should be stricter and follow specific regulations.
- One of the most effective ways to address the issue of groundwater depletion is to find alternative sources of water. Alternative water sources can be used to help replenish aquifers. Deriving water from other sources would also give aquifers time to refill instead of pumping too much water from them at once.
- The pumping of groundwater should be regulated. If we don’t have a better understanding of our groundwater supply, then we can easily use much more than we should. Understandably, more funding should be granted towards researching our groundwater supply instead of just pumping the water, so that we can set limits and better pace our usage. Additional funding should be given to support initiatives that not only study the supply of groundwater we have, but also seek to find sustainable ways to use less of it.
- Groundwater quality monitoring should be done, especially by industries to measure groundwater parameters like pH, flow rate, TSS, water level, etc. Prompt action should be taken if any problem is observed.
- Zoning or marking land areas to ensure a better focus on specific areas for preventing groundwater pollution is another strategy to adopt. This measure of creating land-use maps has been used by many nations around the world.
- Creating awareness around the importance and an urgent need to take steps for groundwater prevention pollution will also help in combating the issue.
- Managing groundwater is all the more necessary because globally, water use is projected to grow by roughly one per cent every year over the next 30 years and the world’s overall dependence on groundwater is expected to rise as surface water availability becomes increasingly limited due to climate change.
- Groundwater is a commodity used by everyone. So, the onus to protect it from contaminants and its scarcity for the present & future generations lie on each and every individual on the face of the earth. Each and every individual can play a role by taking small but effective steps like not wasting water in the house or workplace, using fewer plastics, and proper disposal methods.
About Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
- The Union Cabinet in July 2020 has approved a new pan India Central Sector Scheme called Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility).
- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) scheme was launched with an objective to mobilize a medium - long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through incentives and financial support in order to improve agriculture infrastructure in the country.
- The duration of the Scheme shall be from FY2020 to FY2032 (10 years).
- Intended beneficiaries
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- Agricultural Produce Market Committee
- Agri-Entrepreneur
- Central sponsored Public-Private Partnership Project
- Farmer
- Farmer Producers Organization
- Federation of Farmer Produce Organisations
- Joint Liability Groups
- Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Project
- Marketing Cooperative Society
- Multipurpose Cooperative Society
- National Federations of Cooperatives
- Primary Agricultural Credit Society
- Self Help Group
- Federations of Self-Help Groups
- Start-Up
- State Agencies
- State Federations of Cooperatives
- State sponsored Public-Private Partnership Project
- All loans under this financing facility will have interest subvention of 3% per annum up to a limit of Rs. 2 crores. This subvention will be available for a maximum period of seven years.
- Further, credit guarantee coverage will be available for eligible borrowers from this financing facility under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme for a loan up to Rs. 2 crores. The fee for this coverage will be paid by the Government.
- In case of FPOs the credit guarantee may be availed from the facility created under FPO promotion scheme of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DACFW).
- Moratorium for repayment under this financing facility may vary subject to a minimum of 6 months and maximum of 2 years.
- All scheduled commercial banks, scheduled cooperative banks, Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Small Finance Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) and National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) may participate to provide this financing facility, after signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD)/DAC&FW.
- The role of infrastructure is crucial for agriculture development and for taking the production dynamics to the next level. It is only through the development of infrastructure, especially at the post-harvest stage that the produce can be optimally utilized with opportunity for value addition and fair deal for the farmers.
- Development of such infrastructure shall also address the vagaries of nature, the regional disparities, development of human resources and realization of full potential of our limited land resource.
- Farmers (including FPOs, PACS, Marketing Cooperative Societies, Multipurpose cooperative societies)
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- Improved marketing infrastructure to allow farmers to sell directly to a larger base of consumers and hence, increase value realization for the farmers. This will improve the overall income of farmers.
- With investments in logistics infrastructure, farmers will be able to sell in the market with reduced post-harvest losses and a smaller number of intermediaries. This further will make farmers independent and improve access to the market.
- With modern packaging and cold storage system access, farmers will be able to further decide when to sell in the market and improve realization.
- Community farming assets for improved productivity and optimization of inputs will result in substantial savings to farmers.
- Government will be able to direct priority sector lending in the currently unviable projects by supporting through interest subvention, incentive and credit guarantee. This will initiate the cycle of innovation and private sector investment in agriculture.
- Due to improvements in post-harvest infrastructure, the government will further be able to reduce national food wastage percentage thereby enabling the agriculture sector to become competitive with current global levels.
- Central/State Government Agencies or local bodies will be able to structure viable PPP projects for attracting investment in agriculture infrastructure.
- With a dedicated source of funding, entrepreneurs will push for innovation in agriculture sector by leveraging new age technologies including IoT, AI, etc.
- It will also connect the players in the ecosystem and hence, improve avenues for collaboration between entrepreneurs and farmers.
- With Credit Guarantee, incentive and interest subvention lending institutions will be able to lend at a lower risk. This scheme will help to enlarge their customer base and diversification of portfolio.
- Refinance facility will enable larger role for cooperative banks and RRBs.
- With reduced inefficiencies in post-harvest ecosystem, the key benefit for consumers will be a larger share of produce reaching the market and hence, better quality and prices. Overall, the investment via the financing facility in agriculture infrastructure will benefit all the eco-system players.
POSTED ON 23-03-2022 BY ADMIN
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