General Studies-02:  International Relations

1. IMF: India’s rice curbs could spur inflation

India’s move to restrict exports of certain types of rice could help exacerbate food price inflation and should be reversed, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said on Tuesday.

Mr. Gourinchas said India’s move would have an effect similar to the suspension of the Ukraine Black Sea grain export deal, helping drive up prices in other countries. Global grain prices could rise 10-15% this year, he added.

“In the current environment, these types of restrictions are likely to exacerbate volatility on food prices in the rest of the world, and they can also lead to retaliatory measures,” Mr. Gourinchas said. “We would encourage removal of these type of… restrictions because they can be harmful globally.”

General Studies-02: International Relations

2. IMF lifts India growth forecast a tad to 6.1%

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday raised its growth forecast for India slightly, expecting the economy to grow at 6.1% in the current fiscal year.

It raised its expectation by 0.2 percentage point from its April projection, reflecting “momentum from stronger-than-expected growth” in the fourth quarter as a result of stronger domestic investment, the IMF said.

The growth prediction is, however, much lower than the RBI’s projection of a 6.5% increase in GDP.

India’s economic growth accelerated to 6.1% in the March quarter, boosted by government and private capital spending, while the country’s growth in the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2022, was 7.2%, one of the highest among the world’s largest economies.

Raises global outlook

The IMF also slightly raised its global growth estimates for this year given a more resilient start to the year than expected, but said the balance of risks to the outlook remained skewed to the downside.

General Studies-02: Governance

3. Political parties feel RTI may reveal their internal decisions

Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud on Tuesday orally observed that political parties may “have a point” when they fear that accountability under the Right to Information (RTI) Act may stretch even to disclosure of internal decisions, including why they chose a particular candidate.

The CJI, leading a three-judge Bench, was hearing a batch of petitions seeking a declaration that national and regional political parties were “public authorities” under the RTI Act. Several parties, including the BJP, are arraigned as respondents.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said it supported the cause of financial transparency of political parties, but was against parties being compelled to reveal confidential information like “which candidate was selected for what reasons and what discussions happened within the political party, etc.”.

“They have a point. They say, don’t ask us to disclose how we chose our candidates… I don’t think you can do that,” the CJI told advocates Prashant Bhushan and Gopal Sankaranarayanan, counsel for the petitioners. It has posted the case for August 1.

Mr. Bhushan argued that parties got considerable benefits from the government. They had a role in governance as they controlled the opinions of their legislators through whips. The petitions said the Central Information Commission (CIC), in 2013 and 2015, had declared national and regional parties “public authorities”.

However, parties have argued that opening up to RTI may lead to an undemocratic infringement into their confidential discussions.

The Centre has opposed the petitions, reasoning that parties cannot be compelled to disclose their internal functioning and financial information as this would hamper smooth internal working.

General Studies-03:  Bio-diversity

4. Lok Sabha passes contentious Biological Diversity Bill amid din

Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav says amendments necessary to address issues in 20-year-old Act; green activists argue it will ‘solely benefit’ AYUSH firms; House panel had said proposed exemptions may pave way for abuse of law

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 amid sloganeering by Opposition members demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi make a statement on the Manipur violence. The Bill aims to amend the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

“In the 20 years since the Act was brought into force by the Vajpayee government, we have seen that there were problems and it was necessary to address them,” Bhupendra Yadav, Minister for Environment and Forests and Climate Change, said. “To ensure that tribes and vulnerable communities benefit from the proceeds of medicinal forest products, these amendments were necessary. By decriminalising certain activities, we are encouraging Ayurveda as well as ease of doing business.”

The amended Bill was drafted in response to complaints by traditional Indian medicine practitioners, the seed sector, industry and researchers that the Act imposed a heavy “compliance burden”.

The Bill sought to exempt registered AYUSH medical practitioners and people accessing codified traditional knowledge, among others, from giving prior intimation to State biodiversity Boards to access biological resources for certain purposes.

Environmental organisations such as Legal Initiative for Forests and Environment (LIFE) have said that the amendments were made to “solely benefit” AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) firms and would pave the way for “bio piracy”.

The Bill decriminalises a range of offences under the Act and substitutes them with monetary penalties.

An analysis by the Centre for Science and Environment and the Down To Earth magazine on how the Biodiversity Act was being practically implemented, showed serious shortcomings. There was no data — barring in a few States — on the money received from companies and traders for access and benefit-sharing from use of traditional knowledge and resources.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee was constituted in December 2021 to analyse the amendment Bill.

Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh, who was a member of the committee, in a letter addressed to other members and BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, committee chairperson, said that these exemptions could open the law for abuse.

General Studies-03: Disaster Management

5. Himachal floods: a man-made disaster?

Heavy downpour: People walk through a bridge across River Beas, swollen due to rains in Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh on July 10. AP

Why is climate change alone not to blame for unprecedented rain and floods in the State? What are the anthropogenic reasons? Should the development model be relooked? How have changes in the way dams are being built, shift in crop patterns, rush of tourism added to the problem?

Flash floods during this year’s monsoon season have caused unprecedented damage to both lives and assets in Himachal Pradesh. The death toll has crossed 150, and the estimated total loss amounts to ₹10,000 crore. Although climate change is expected to have played a hand in causing the high precipitation leading to these flash floods, human induced disasters resulting from planned development have played a significant role in causing such colossal losses. In the last five years (before 2022), 1,550 people lost their lives and nearly 12,444 houses were damaged.

Is climate change the only reason for the rain and floods?

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) VI report has clearly stated that the Himalayas and coastal regions of India will be the hardest hit by climate change. In the Himalayas, there is a noticeable pattern of increased precipitation occurring in shorter periods of time. The India Meteorological Department data shows that the normal rainfall during this period is expected to be between 720mm and 750 mm. However, in certain instances, it has exceeded 888 mm in 2010 and 926.9 mm in 2018. This year, the precipitation so far has been attributed to the combined effect of the south-west monsoon with western disturbances. The total rainfall from June to date was 511 mm.

Should the development model be reworked?

Apart from climate change, anthropogenic factors have also significantly contributed to the disaster. The State’s development model initiated after it came into being in 1971 had been successful in transforming Himachal Pradesh into an exemplar of development for mountain States. This model, known as the Dr. Parmar model (named after the founding Chief Minister, Dr. Y.S. Parmar), focused on exemplary land reforms, robust state-led investment in social welfare, and a strong emphasis on human resources. These efforts resulted in Himachal Pradesh ranking second in social development indices. By the 1980s, electricity had reached every household, there was improved connectivity in remote areas through health care centres, many schools came up, there were major advancements in agriculture, and a shift towards the apple and off-season vegetable economies fostered both economic and social vibrancy.

However, the advent of liberalisation led to significant changes, with the Central government demanding stringent fiscal reforms and mountain States being forced to generate their own resources for fiscal management. What were these resources? The exploitation of natural resources, including forests, water, tourism, and cement production, became a major focus for development. This led to the rapid construction of hydropower projects, often causing damage to rivers and their ecosystems, widening of roads without proper geological and engineering assessments, expansion of cement plants altering land use patters, and a shift in agricultural practices to cash crop economies that affected the landscape and river systems.

Is building hydropower projects wrong?

The pursuit of hydropower projects became a dominant focus for hill States, with their capacity measured in terms of megawatts (MW) to attract investments. Notably, there was a significant shift in funding priorities of multilateral agencies. Prior to 2000, these agencies were opposed to financing large hydropower projects, but they changed their stance and started providing funding for such ventures, making finance readily available for these projects.

One of the main reasons for the devastating impact of floods in the region is the uncontrolled construction of these hydropower projects, which have essentially transformed mountain rivers into mere streams. The technology employed, known as “run of the river” dams, diverts water through tunnels burrowed into the mountains, and the excavated material (muck) is often disposed of along the riverbeds. During periods of higher precipitation or cloudbursts, the water returns to the river, carrying the dumped muck along with it. This destructive process is evident in rivers like Parvati, Beas and Sutlej, as well as many other small hydropower dams. Moreover, long tunnels spanning 150 km have been planned or commissioned on the Sutlej river causing significant harm to the entire ecosystem.

Currently, there are 168 hydropower projects in operation, generating 10,848 MW of electricity. Looking ahead, it is projected that by 2030, 1,088 hydropower projects will be commissioned to harness 22,640 MW of energy. This surge in hydropower projects raises concerns about the inevitability of impending disasters in the region.

What about tourism?

The development-driven road expansion is aimed at promoting tourism and attracting a large number of visitors. The road-widening projects, often carried out by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), involve transforming two-lane roads into four-lane roads and single lanes into two- lane roads. The development model follows a public-private-partnership (PPP) approach, emphasising the need to complete these projects rapidly. However, this has resulted in bypassing essential geological studies and mountain engineering skills.

Traditionally, mountainous regions are not cut with vertical slits but are terraced, minimising the damage to the environment. Unfortunately, in both the four-lane projects in Manali and Shimla, the mountains have been cut vertically, leading to massive landslides and damage to existing roads. Restoring these roads after such disasters is a time-consuming process, often taking months or even years. The consequences of such road expansions are evident during even normal rainfall, as it leads to slips and slides, amplifying the magnitude of the destruction during heavy rain or floods.

How have cement plants harmed the environment?

The establishment of massive cement plants and extensive cutting of mountains in districts like Bilaspur, Solan, Chamba have resulted in significant land use changes that contribute to flash floods during rainfall. The cement plants alter the natural landscape, and the removal of vegetation leads to reduced capacity of land to absorb water.

How have crop patterns changed?

A silent transformation is occurring in agriculture and horticulture patterns, leading to significant shift in both landholdings and produce. More farmers are now embracing a cash crop economy over traditional cereal farming. However, this shift has implications for the transportation of these crops to markets within a short timeframe owing to their perishable nature.

In response to this need, roads are being constructed hastily without considering essential land cutting and gradient requirements. Modern excavators are employed in construction, but without creating proper drains or designated areas for dumping muck. Consequently, when it rains, the water finds its own path, carrying the dumped muck along with it and depositing it into the river ecosystem. As a result, even during normal rainfall, rivulets and rivers experience rapid swelling. It is worth noting that although the total designated road length in the State is around 1,753 km, the total length of all roads including the link and village roads is more than 40,000 km.

What is the way out?

A Commission of Inquiry must be instituted to bring the major stakeholders — the people — on board and discuss both the policy framework failures, as well as the peculiar aspects of the projects undertaken.

A new architecture is required to empower local communities over their assets. The losses faced in the forms of culverts, village drains, small bridges, schools, other social infrastructure must be compensated; and this can be done if the assets are insured and the custodians are local communities. This will help to rebuild the assets quicker. With climate change a reality, humans should not add to the problem, but make adequate changes in infrastructure planning to avert disasters that the State has been witnessing since June.

Tikender Singh Panwar is former Deputy Mayor, Shimla, and an urban specialist.

THE GIST

Flash floods during this year’s monsoon season have caused unprecedented damage to both lives and assets in Himachal Pradesh. The death toll has crossed 150, and the estimated total loss amounts to ₹10,000 crore.

One of the main reasons for the devastating impact of floods in the region is the uncontrolled construction of hydropower projects, which have essentially transformed mountain rivers into mere streams.

A Commission of Inquiry must be instituted to bring the major stakeholders — the people — on board and discuss both the policy framework failures, as well as the peculiar aspects of the projects undertaken.

General Studies-02: Social Sector

6. Drawn from gig workers’ struggles, hewn in Rajasthan

Nikhil Dey is a social activist who works with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan and the Soochna Evam Rozgaar Adhikar Abhiyan in Rajasthan

The Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act 2023, passed in the Rajasthan Assembly on July 24, is a powerful example of how labour law draws its strength from workers’ struggles and victories of the past, even as “the workers of the world” respond to new relationships of employers, employees, and workers rights in the evolving future.

The term “gig” draws its etymological origin from jazz musicians doing short time-based performances called “gigs” for a predetermined fee. The capitalist economy applied this definition to current working arrangements, to escape from employer-employee relationships of any kind. The “gig economy” is in fact nothing more than the minute contractualisation of work, where the employer escapes from all responsibility except for determining the immediate task at hand, and arranging the pecuniary payment for it.

An employer cartel calls the shots

For example, in the case of a transport-based worker such as with Uber or Ola, or many others, the “aggregator” uses an app-based platform to connect the “customer” with the “driver”, for which they take a healthy “commission”. The app (operationalised with the help of algorithms) does the rest, including fixing the route, regulating the rides, paying taxes, and delivering profit to the company. If the worker does not comply with conditions decided by the company, their “ID” is blocked, resulting in a temporary digital punishment, or digital dismissal. Since the company claims not to “employ” the workers , but “partner” them, there are no employer responsibilities for wages, working conditions, or social security. Needless to say, there are no “shares” of profit or company value that should accompany true partnership.

Around the world, drawing inspiration and power from the architecture and legal regime of market fundamentalism, companies have resisted taking on the most basic responsibility for the dignity and “fair working conditions” of workers. The nature of unorganised work leaves all gig workers at the mercy of a cartel of employers that calls the shots. Even the few unions that have been formed are unequal to take on these employers for any kind of collective bargaining. There is a need for the state to support gig workers through law, but the neoliberal state has shown neither the appetite nor the creative responsibility to do so.

This is where and why the Rajasthan law is such an important breakthrough. The workers, their infant unions, and the civil society and citizen groups who support them, made a demand that even the aggregators could not refuse. They demanded social security rights through a board to be set up through a gig workers welfare law. Even aggregators have acknowledged that the workers should have some social security. Some companies claim that they take out accident and death insurance “at company cost”. The truth is that social security is supposed to be a part of the wage earned by the worker, kept for all basic human needs including moments of crisis when a worker is unable to work due to ill health, old age, or even a need for leave. Gig workers today are being forced to work incredibly long hours, all through the week. They bear the burden for any sort of domestic or social crisis including ill health or app failure, or Internet or other shutdowns, while companies take advantage of rising unemployment or faltering economies to offer unemployed workers partnerships (work) with no strings attached. How has the Rajasthan law drawn from workers’ struggles of the past, to formulate a law that will protect workers into the future?

The hamal model

More than 60 years ago, people who carried sacks on their head or shoulders (called hamals) formed a union called the “Hamal Panchayat” in Maharashtra. They faced the same set of problems that most unorganised sector workers face, but in a more acute form. They had no single workplace, or “employer”. The employers were merchants and the workers from poor and mostly Dalit or Other Backward Class families from the rural hinterland. After earning for a short period, when their bodies could no longer take the backbreaking work, they would go back home to fade away. They had nothing to fall back on during illness, accident, or old age. They had no minimum wages, no pension, no sick leave, no health or education benefits and no employer to collectively bargain with.

They came up with a brilliant formulation that they fought hard to implement, and emerged with a law that has served as the conceptual foundation for unorganised sector workers rights in the country. Led by Baba Adhav, now 94, they demanded and won a law that set up a “Mathadi board” which would register both workers and merchants who used the labour of hamals. Every shopkeeper was registered and required by law to deposit the workers’ wage and a “levy on every sack carried” with the board, which was to be paid to the worker once a month. The levy, acknowledged to be a part of their “piece rate wage”, was to be used for social security schemes and programmes launched and managed by the board. These included gratuity, health and education benefits, and other rights that were considered impossible to secure. So effective was this law that the Hamal panchayat has its own bank, housing scheme (flats for hamals), and school. It has even set up unions for others which include autorickshaw drivers and waste pickers. The board brought them together, the law gave them collective legitimacy, and the capacity to secure their social security money, and true “partnership” in the union allowed them to create some of the most innovative social security benefits from their own legitimate wages. (For the record,no merchant (employer) suffered, let alone went out of business.) The tripartite board, with representation from unions, employers, and government, arrived at a settled and reasonably harmonious formal platform of collective deliberation, negotiation and bargaining. Today, the Pune union still sets the standard — 250 unions in the federation, with labour membership of more than 1,00,000 in the State.

Enabling fair work, security

The Rajasthan campaign for app-based gig workers borrowed this formulation, and began its campaign with a demand centered around social security. It convinced the ruling party, including Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the State, State Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, and the bureaucratic establishment, that a board and social security fund funded through a fee on every transaction, was a powerful way forward in dealing with the social security rights of gig workers. The result is the breakthrough Act. It is certainly the first such law in the country, and perhaps the first gig worker-specific social security law in the world.

The app-based nature of platform-based gig work also allows the Mathadi Act principles to be applied in a far more accurate and efficient form. All aggregators operating in the State must be registered. All workers on boarded on their platforms must be registered with the board. A worker can view their own data and transactions. The board can serve as an independent grievance redress mechanism. This law is undoubtedly an important step forward in terms of fair work and social security. The boards and worker access to the data and transactions of app based work can result in a more equal scenario where workers can use digital data to protect their rights. The entire set of transactions and the algorithms used can be made far more transparent. This law can be the basis for more progressive laws for gig workers in India and other parts of the world. New unorganised sector welfare boards can be formed for specific rights and schemes for workers of that sector.

Like any breakthrough, this law has many implications for a new form of social security, and the human rights of workers. As we face the next level of threats to workers and work, including the use of Artificial Intelligence, this should serve as an inspiration that fair and creative work is intrinsic to human nature, and machines can not only be put to use “for people”, but also “by people”, as long as democratic principles of justice and equality are an integral part of decision making.

The Rajasthan Platform Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act 2023 is a reminder that fair and creative work is intrinsic to human nature

General Studies-03: Science Technology

7. Final orbit-raising manoeuvre of Chandrayaan-3 completed

Mission moon: Chandrayaan-3 is now in an orbit, which, when farthest to earth is at 1,27,609 km.

ISRO will perform TransLunar Injection on August 1 to slingshot Chandrayaan-3 towards moon; the four previous orbit-raising manoeuvres were performed between July 15 and July 20

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Tuesday successfully completed the fifth and final orbit-raising manoeuvre (earth-bound perigee firing) of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. It was performed successfully from ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bengaluru.

The spacecraft is expected to attain an orbit of 1,27,609 km x 236 km. This means that Chandrayaan-3 is now in an orbit which, when closest to earth is at 236 km and when farthest is at 1,27,609 km.

“The achieved orbit will be confirmed after the observations,” ISRO said after the successful orbit-raising manoeuvre.

The four earlier orbit-raising manoeuvres were performed by ISTRAC between July 15 and July 20.

Following the final orbit-raising manoeuvre, ISRO will perform the TransLunar Injection (TLI) on August 1 to slingshot Chandrayaan-3 towards the moon.

“The next firing, the TransLunar Injection (TLI), is planned for August 1, 2023, between midnight and 1 a.m. IST,” ISRO said.

The Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander module (LM), propulsion module (PM) and a rover which was launched by the LVM3-M4 on July 14.

After the TLI takes place, the PM and the LM separation will happen on August 17.

A series of deboost manoeuvres is also scheduled to take place before the power descent phase for the soft landing on the moon.

The lander is expected to touch down on the moon surface on August 23 at 5.47 p.m.

The Chandrayaan-3 consists of a lander module (LM), propulsion module (PM) and a rover which was launched by the LVM3-M4 on July 14.