4 Jan 2024
#GS2: – 01. Hit & Run Issue
India reported an 11% increase in road accidents in 2022 at 446,768 and a10% increase in fatalities at 171,100. Pedestrians and two- wheeler riders accounted for 60% of the deaths while truck and lorry drivers made up less than 9%.So truck drivers aren’t more vulnerable; are they more culpable? This is difficult to say,as NCRB data doesn’t specify who is at fault in an accident. But other numbers indicate culpability. National highways, with just 2.1% Of the country’s road network, accounted for 30.5% of accidents And 35% of fatalities.
The immediate impact of strike was felt on fuel Availability with around 2,000 bunks running out of petrol.
Road transport accounts for 3.6% Of the country’s GDP with 85% of India’s passenger traffic borne by buses and around 70% offreight movement by trucks. This share has gone up as more highways and expressways have come up.Except bulk commodities like coal, iron ore and steel, most other freight in the country is transported by trucks. It has a particularly higher share in perishables like fruit, vegetables, dairy products and food.In just two days, prices of some of these products have started to inch up.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the trucks- to-driver ratio stoodat1:1.3. This ratio has come down to 1:0.65 today. As a result,around 25-28% of trucks in India are lying idle at any point in time. Attrition is high too—around 60% truck drivers work for less than 15 year sin the industry. Ironically,salaries haven’t been going up despite the demand supply mismatch. Driving cabs and taxis in the cities offer better pay.
– Commentary in News
#GS3 : – 02. Batteries and EVs
The question is, can we do sodium-ion technology on a commercial scale? That is the goal because lithium is less abundant. It’s not something India will have for along time.In stead of lithium-ion battery for electric mobility,can we go for sodium-ion battery and aluminium air battery which entails a (battery) swapping kind of mechanism.Can we adopt these for our electric vehicles?
–Principal Scientific Advisor Ajay Kumar Sood
Key Terms/Issues : Lithium Ion/ Sodium Ion Technologies
#GS3 : – 03. Onion Exports Ban
India accounts for about a fourth of the global onion output and is the largest exporter after the Netherlands and Mexico.
India imposed a 40% Export tax on onions last August,followed by a Minimum export price of $800 per tonne in October, to stabilize domestic supply and prices due to a crop short fall. Despite these measures,high prices led to a complete export ban in December, effective until the end of the 2023-24 financial year.
– Commentary in News
#GS3 : – 04. Ethanol & Sugar
Move to restrict diversion of sugar for ethanol and then reverse it in just 10 days has left industry dazed and confused.
The ethanol blending programme targets 20% blending by 2025, as part of the goal to be energy self-reliantby2070. The sugar industry has invested in building ethanol blending capacity.
On7th December,the government banned use of sugarcane juice and syrup for ethanol production. It reversed the ban days later, but with a cap on sugar that can be diverted for ethanol. The policy flip-flop and 1.7mtcap on diversion of sugar stocks for ethanol production have dampened the spirits of the
industry, which may cut back on further investments on blending.
Key Terms/Issues : Ethanol Blending Program, FRP
– Commentary in News
#GS2 : – 05. Social Sector & Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Myths
Every experience in the social sector tells the same tale: Nothing sustains on its own. Communities, systems and societies are buffeted continually by internal and external forces—political, economic and cultural. Some are purposeful forces and some just play out by chance.Not to talk of the tendency of systems to become disordered. In this fluid and dynamic human theatre, whatever has been achieved needs continuous nurturing and energy from somewhere, else things slide back or drift in other directions.
Almost all the work in the social sector is about human beings—their relationships and the political and cultural dynamics that constitute the life of the community and society. These cannot be scaled because of the particularity of context and the basic human element. So,it should be obvious that scalability is a chimera in the social sector.
There is a widespread notion that—other than a small minority—CSOs are inefficient, ineffective and corrupt, or some combination thereof. This is plainly false. CSOs are no more Corrupt or ineffective than any other kind of enterprise in our society. Academic institutions, state organs and businesses are all similar. All of them have a distribution of effectiveness and probity in the context of their work and size. It is the same with CSOs. The myth not only does a great disservice to lakhs of people who do a competent and honest job helping our society improve, but also goes against their work.
– Azim Premji Foundation CEO Anurag Behar
Key Terms/Issues : Civil Services Organizations (CSOs)
#GS3 : -06. Climate Change Imperatives
The ongoing war in Ukraine and the fighting in Gaza following Hamas’s 7 October terrorist attack must not distract the world from our collective priorities: reducing our carbon dioxide emissions, aiming for carbon neutrality by 2050, preserving biodiversity, and fighting poverty and inequality.
It is now crystal clear that no country will work to protect the planet if the price it must pay leads its citizens to a socioeconomic dead-end.
We must move away from coal by 2030, from oil by 2045, and from gas by 2050. While the G7 countries bear the greatest responsibility, China, which is now the second-largest emitter in history, must be fully committed, too.
The threat posed by coal must be addressed first. Today, the 2,000 gigawatts of installed capacity emit enough CO2 to take us above 1.5° Celsius. While the International Energy Agency (IEA) recommends withdrawing 92GW per year, 500GW of additional capacity is already planned. While it is the G7’s responsibility to move away from coal by 2030 (France will have done so in 2027), emerging economies are now the biggest coal consumers. In these countries, we need to speed up the financing of renewables, as well as nuclear power, which, as a manageable and a decarbonized energy source, must play a key role.
We need a green interest rate and a brown interest rate. Similarly, we need a climate clause in our trade agreements, because we cannot simultaneously demand that our industries become greener while supporting the liberalization of international trade in polluting products.
We need to create an international carbon and biodiversity exchange that will allow governmental and private actors to organize voluntary carbon credit swaps, based on sufficiently ambitious criteria to avoid green washing, and to remunerate local communities. We will not succeed if we cannot reform the World Bank and IMF, which play a prominent role in establishing the norms and financing the green transition on a global scale.
-French Preseident Emmanuel Macron
Key Terms/Issues : Green/Brown Interest rates, Greenwashing
#GS1 : – 07. Aluminium Uses
Aluminium has successfully replaced timber in house construction, significantly contributing to the prevention of tree cutting. It is used in aircraft making for its light-weight tensile strength, and the same applies to renewable energy projects.
As India witnesses increased government spending on infrastructure, our challenge lies in finding the extent to which aluminium usage can be expanded in these projects. In applications like home window and door frames, as with aircraft making, the metal faces little competition. In infrastructure, it of ten competes with steel or stainless steel, but it can excel in such niches as architectural structures, electric charging stations, etc. Timber must completely be replaced with aluminium, given its recyclability and cost-effectiveness over time, thanks to very low maintenance costs.
-Former secretary,Government of India Aruna Sharma