What to read in The Hindu

Andhra Pradesh on alert as water rises in Godavari (Page no. 1) (GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)

With water level in the Godavari on a steady rise, thanks to more spells of rain in the catchments in Andhra Pradesh, a flood alert has been issued to tribal habitations by the Riverbanks.

Water levels in Godavari tributaries had also increased, and the discharge from the Polavaram project was about 6.70 lakh cusecs.

Central Water Commission officials monitoring the river said that the water level in the Godavari, which stood at 45 feet on Saturday, had decreased to 38 feet.

However, it again increased to 39.9 feet at Bhadrachalam by evening. This level is expected to touch the first warning level by Monday.

Officials of the Revenue, Irrigation, Medical and Health, Integral Tribal Development Agency (ITDA), Fisheries, AP Transco and other departments were put on alert in the wake of the rising water levels in the State.

Boats and essential commodities such as drinking water, medicines, milk, generators, diesel and vegetables will be made available in flood-affected villages, said an official on duty.

In Telangana, however, there has been some relief from heavy rain for the past two days. Water flow to projects in the Krishna and Godavari basins is fluctuating, with not much rain recorded in the upstream areas of the two river basins in Maharashtra and Karnataka for the past two days.

While the inflow to projects in the Krishna basin is on the decline, it is steady in the Godavari basin, with the forecast of some increase to the major projects.

Wind power rates may bottom out (Page no. 1)

(GS Paper 3, Environment)

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) said that it would be doing away with the practice of reverse auctions — when companies bid to offer the lowest price — while awarding contracts for setting up wind-energy projects. However, wind industry experts say this alone wouldn’t necessarily improve the sector’s fortunes.

India has committed to installing 60,000 MW of wind power projects by 2022 but has only met two-thirds of the target.

An in-principle decision has been taken. There were complaints from the industry that e-reverse auctions are leading to tariffs being artificially lowered leading to unhealthy competition.

While reverse auctions were the norm for all renewable energy projects including solar and wind projects since 2015, the government’s change of stance signals that the rock-bottom prices associated with clean energy projects—per unit solar power costs have fallen to ₹2.40 a unit—don’t reflect the true costs of renewable energy.

The cost of large tracts of land required to install wind turbines, the limited availability of prime sites that are favourable for cost-efficient wind power projects and the poor financial health of State electricity distribution companies, who pay wind power project developers for every unit of power sold to them, are among the reasons cited for the dwindling health of the sector.

Francis Jayasuriya of the Global Wind Energy Council, an international trade council of the wind energy industry, said that there was yet no clarity on what would replace the existing policy.

Prices were going below ₹2.50 per unit and in fact the government had to intervene and put a ceiling on how low this could go. People were desperately bidding and driving it down to unsustainable levels.

The reverse auction system replaced a system of feed-in-tariffs where companies placed closed bids for a chance to develop a wind power project at a site in return for a fixed revenue for a fixed period.

While this led to a boom in the sector in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, States naturally conducive for such projects, per-unit prices for wind power varied widely from State to State.

Editorial

           

Weighing in on India’s investment led revival (Page no. 6)

(GS Paper 3, Economy)

The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, said recently that India’s long-term growth prospects are embedded in public capital expenditure programmes. She added that an increase in public investment would crowd in (or pull in) private

investment, thus reviving the economy. The Minister was speaking at the third G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting hosted by Indonesia in Bali.

Public investment-led economic growth has a respectable academic pedigree, and forms a credible strand of explanation for India’s post-Independence economic growth. Here is an illustration.

When it was faced with a slow-down after the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led-National Democratic Alliance government initiated public road building projects. In the form of the Golden Quadrilateral (to link metro cities using a high-quality road network) and the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (to ‘provide good all-weather road connectivity to unconnected habitations’), these initiatives sowed the seeds of economic revival, culminating in an investment and export-led boom in the 2000s; GDP grew at 8%-9% annually.

In comparison, the investment record during the 2010s has been dismal. However, a recent uptick is evident in the real gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) rate — the fixed investment to GDP ratio (net of inflation). The ratio recovered to 32.5% in 2019-20 from a low of 30.7% in 2015-16 (figure).

Ms. Sitaraman has claimed that the Government sustained the investment tempo even during the novel coronavirus pandemic (2020-21 and 2021-22). As in the June edition of the Ministry of Finance’s Monthly Economic Review, the fixed investment to GDP ratio was 32% in 2021-22.

However, there is need for caution in reading the most recent data, as they are subject to revision. Moreover, the budgetary definition of investment refers to financial investments (which include purchase of existing financial assets, or loans offered to States) and not just capital formation representing an expansion of the productive potential.

 

MC12 over, it’s ‘gains’ for the developed world (Page no. 6)

(GS Paper 2, International Relation)

Global trade negotiations are about striking bargains. You lose some and win some. So, who were the main winners and losers in the recently concluded 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Even a cursory examination of the outcomes of the meeting leaves us in no doubt that the European Union (EU) and some other developed countries are the overwhelming winners, while India finds itself on the losing side.

The ministerial outcome on the so-called TRIPS waiver represents the biggest gain for the EU. It is relevant to recall the sequence of events.

In October 2020, India and South Africa put forth a proposal seeking to temporarily suspend the protection of intellectual property rights such as patents, copyrights, industrial designs and trade secrets, so that the production of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics could be ramped up to help overcome the crisis and fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposal garnered the support of almost 100 countries at the WTO. It also caught the imagination of many Nobel laureates, academicians, civil society organisations, former Prime Ministers of many developed countries, the former Secretary General of the United Nations and even Hollywood celebrities.

The opponents of the proposal, i.e,. Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan, Switzerland and the United States, found themselves on the wrong side of the global opinion on this issue.

In a guileful move, in June-July 2021, the U.S. gave its support to the proposal, but limited it to vaccines. In the process, it bought peace with its domestic constituents, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

Other developed countries, particularly Germany and the U.K., found themselves at the receiving end of the ire of their civil society organisations and prominent opinion makers.

 OPED

           

Adding digital layers of indignity (Page no. 7)

(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

The right to live with dignity is a constitutional imperative. However, it rarely manifests in discussions surrounding digital initiatives in governance.

Centralised data dashboards — valuable as they are — have become the go-to mode for assessing policies, relegating principles such as human dignity and hardships in accessing rights to its blind spots.

Often when technological glitches prevent one from accessing rights, there is a tendency to make the rights-holder feel responsible for it. 

For instance, I recall being in Rajasthan with Natho Ba, an old MGNREGA worker with severe speech impediment. Despite repeated attempts at a bank to get his e-KYC, he wasn’t able to access his own MGNREGA wages because his biometrics wouldn’t work.

The bank manager said in Hindi, “His fingers are defective”. Natho Ba felt humiliated, but was physically unable to voice his humiliation.

The bank official was not intentionally insensitive, but had internalised spouting dehumanised technocratic vocabulary. Dehumanisation is the likely outcome when trust and humane aspects of governance get outsourced to opaque technologies.

Two recent technocratic initiatives by the Union government underscore these issues again. The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), launched in 1975, is one of the world’s largest early childhood care and development programmes.

An important component of ICDS is supplementary nutrition for children in the 0 to 6 years age group, pregnant women and lactating mothers. This became a legal entitlement when it became part of the National Food Security Act in 2013.

As per this, the rights-holders get hot cooked meals or take-home rations at the local Anganwadis. In 2021, the Union government launched the Poshan Tracker, a centralised platform, to monitor all nutrition initiatives, including ICDS.

 

A shot in the arm for rule of law (Page no. 7)

(GS Paper 2, Polity and Governance)

In Satender Kumar Antil v. Central Bureau of Investigation (2022), the Supreme Court expressed its unhappiness with the current state of India’s criminal justice system.

The court said there was scant regard for the violation of basic human rights. It was categorical that indiscriminate arrests are indicative of a colonial mindset and create the impression of India being a “police state”.

It is not as if the court said something that has not been said before. But the vital message that agencies must be civilised towards both crime suspects and convicts was clear.

The court’s words were emphatic and practical. The highlights of the court’s observations were the accent on safeguarding basic human rights, the emphasis on quickening the pace of trials and the suggestion for a new Bail Act, analogous to an existing U.K. legislation.

The gravamen of the court’s charge was that law-enforcement agencies make far too many arrests in violation of basic human rights.

The fact, however, is that members of the lower judiciary often ask investigating officers why they did not arrest some suspects while arresting others.

Often, courts suspect that the police lack integrity in discriminating between the accused. One often wonders whether a Magistrate or judge has the right to question police discretion in the matter, unless there is prima facie injustice to the person arrested.

Caustic comments by courts evoke fear in the lower echelons of the police and drive them to take impulsive and questionable action even where arrests are not warranted.

Judges sometimes go into the nitty-gritty of an ongoing investigation, which is undesirable if police action has to be balanced.

 Explainer

 

A recap of the monkeypox outbreak (Page no. 8)

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

Monkeypox, an uncommon viral infection that was primarily restricted to some countries in western and central Africa as well as travellers to these countries has now spilled overdriven by zoonotic events.

The disease made headlines with its international spread with over 16,000 cases in over 75 countries to date, primarily driven by human-to-human contact, spreading predominantly among, but not exclusively in gay, bisexual and MSM (men who have sex with men) communities.

On July 23, 2022, amid a rapid rise in monkeypox cases across the globe, Dr. Tedros Adhanom, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

First discovered in 1958, in monkeys at the Statens Serum Institute in Denmark, monkeypox is a zoonotic virus that can infect humans as well as other animals, including rodents and other primate species.

Ever since the first case in humans was identified in 1970, in the present Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus has become endemic in parts of Central and West Africa primarily driven by zoonotic spillovers.

Despite being denoted as ‘monkeypox’, the actual origin and source of the disease are unknown and therefore a misnomer in many ways.

The virus belongs to the same family of viruses as variola — the virus that causes smallpox. The disease presents with symptoms that are similar to those previously seen in smallpox patients, although it is less contagious and less severe.

Text and Context

           

The challenges of fiberization ahead of India’s 5G deployment (Page no. 9)

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

India is preparing to auction off about 72 Ghz of airwaves to rollout 5G services in the country. However, the infrastructure needed for such a rollout requires existing radio towers to be connected via optical-fibre cables. The work of connecting the towers could prove to be a huge challenge for the country.

The process of connecting radio towers with each other via optical fibre cables is called fiberisation. It helps provide full utilisation of network capacity, and carry large amounts of data once 5G services are rolled out.

It will also aid in providing additional bandwidth and stronger backhaul support. The backhaul is a component of the larger transport that is responsible for carrying data across the network.

It represents the part of the network that connects the core of the network to the edge. As a result, fibre backhaul remains an important part of transport across all telecoms, Sajan Paul, Managing Director & Country Manager, India & SAARC, Juniper Networks, a telecom infrastructure company, told The Hindu.

Fibre-based media, commonly called optical media, provides almost infinite bandwidth and coverage, low latency and high insulation from interference.

With 5G, it will also be necessary to increase the density of mobile towers to provide better coverage to consumers and businesses. This calls for increased requirements for fibre deployment, Mr. Paul said.

To transition into 5G, India needs at least 16 times more fibre, according to estimates by STL, a technology company specialised in optical fibers and cables.

In India, currently only 33% of the towers are fiberised, compared to the 65%-70% in South Korea and 80%-90% in the U.S., Japan and China, according to a 2021 report by India Infrastructure Research.

Text and Context

           

The challenges of fiberization ahead of India’s 5G deployment (Page no. 9)

(GS Paper 3, Science and Tech)

India is preparing to auction off about 72 Ghz of airwaves to rollout 5G services in the country. However, the infrastructure needed for such a rollout requires existing radio towers to be connected via optical-fibre cables. The work of connecting the towers could prove to be a huge challenge for the country.

The process of connecting radio towers with each other via optical fibre cables is called fiberisation. It helps provide full utilisation of network capacity, and carry large amounts of data once 5G services are rolled out.

It will also aid in providing additional bandwidth and stronger backhaul support. The backhaul is a component of the larger transport that is responsible for carrying data across the network.

It represents the part of the network that connects the core of the network to the edge. As a result, fibre backhaul remains an important part of transport across all telecoms, Sajan Paul, Managing Director & Country Manager, India & SAARC, Juniper Networks, a telecom infrastructure company, told The Hindu.

Fibre-based media, commonly called optical media, provides almost infinite bandwidth and coverage, low latency and high insulation from interference.

With 5G, it will also be necessary to increase the density of mobile towers to provide better coverage to consumers and businesses. This calls for increased requirements for fibre deployment, Mr. Paul said.

To transition into 5G, India needs at least 16 times more fibre, according to estimates by STL, a technology company specialised in optical fibers and cables.

In India, currently only 33% of the towers are fiberised, compared to the 65%-70% in South Korea and 80%-90% in the U.S., Japan and China, according to a 2021 report by India Infrastructure Research.