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National
[1]. Karnataka gets last chance on Cauvery
Context
The Supreme Court has given Karnataka a last opportunity to release 6,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu between October 1 and 6 before the “wrath of law falls on the State.”
SC of India’s other directions
- Set up CWMB: Centre to set up the Cauvery Water Management Board (CWMB)post-haste (with great speed) by October 4 so that the Board could visit the river sites to understand the ground reality and report back by October 6, the next date of hearing.
- The Bench ordered that the three States, namely, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and the Union Territory of Pudducherry involved in the water dispute should send nominations for their representatives on the CWMB by 4 p.m. on October 1.
Background
Karnataka has ignored four consecutive orders passed by the SC in September to release water.
The court slammed the State for “flouting its orders and creating a situation by which the majesty of law is dented.”
[2]. Two-thirds of elderly financially dependent on others, says study
Context
According to a survey, 65 per cent of the elderly in India are dependent on others for their financial requirements and undergo financial crisis. The nation-wide survey conducted by Agewell Foundation involved a random sample of 15,000 people across India aged 60 or above.
Survey
The nation-wide survey conducted by Agewell Foundation involved a random sample of 15,000 people across India aged 60 or above.
Findings
- pension was the main source of income for 38 per cent of the respondents
- 4 per cent of the elderly claimed that their net-worth value had increased remarkably in their old age, primarily due to a sharp increase in real estate prices over the last two decades
- With high net-worth value, older persons have higher purchasing power, but they hardly use their discretion while exercising such powers. Younger family members often manipulate their decisions
- major problems were related to healthcare issues, where financial status plays a key role
- Marginalisation of older population: Senior citizens aged over 70 are marginalised and isolated to a large extent.
- Older persons in the category of 60-70 years are looked after well by their children, but with further advancement in their age, children find it difficult or they are unable to look after them because of their own growing age and ever-increasing responsibilities towards their own children
- The financially well-off older people do not wish to be dependent on government facilities for healthcare needs, as they prefer private institutions for better services
What do the old populace want?
Financially insecure old people expect social security, free health care and subsidies so that they can lead a comfortable and respectable life in old age. At the same time, older people with sound financial health look forward to risk-free investment schemes, so that they can earn good returns to meet financial needs in old age
[3]. Modi moots ‘Swacchagraha’
Context
Prime Minister said that re-use and recycling of waste should be technology driven and insisted that there should a focus on the concept of “waste to wealth” so that revenue models could be developed around cleanliness.
Swacchagraha
- An initiative for cleanliness to get the country dirt-free on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Satyagraha’ that freed us from British rule
- It refers to clean habits that promote cleanliness in the surroundings like re-use and recycling
Conclusion
Cleanliness is not something to be achieved by budget allocations. It is rather, something that should become a mass movement
Indian Express
[4]. Black money: Over Rs 65,000 crore assets in biggest tax disclosure
Indian Express
Context
In the largest-ever declaration of black money, Rs 65,250 crore was declared as unaccounted income and assets under the government’s four-month-long Income Declaration Scheme (IDS) 2016, which ended on 30th September 2016
Stats
A total of 64,275 persons declared their unaccounted wealth under the window, translating into an average of Rs 1 crore of declaration per person.
Utilization of the money from IDS
The money would flow to the Consolidated Fund of India and would be used for public welfare
IDS Scheme
Under the IDS, which was announced in the Budget for 2016-17, declarants would be taxed at the rate of 30 per cent plus a Krishi Kalyan Cess of 25 per cent on the tax and a penalty at the rate of 25 per cent of the tax, thereby taking the total tax to 45 per cent of the income declared under the scheme.
EDITORIALS
[1]. Taking the road less dusty
The Hindu
Context
The likelihood of at least 600,000 deaths being caused annually in India by fine particulate matter pollution in the air is cause for worry, even if the data released by the World Health Organisation are only a modelled estimate.
The WHO Global Burden of Disease study has pointed to the above situation
- The study estimates pollution-linked health impacts, such as stroke and ischaemic heart disease, acute lower respiratory infection and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
- Problem areas: Data on fine particulates in India show that in several locations the pollutants come from burning of biomass, such as coal, fuel wood, farm litter and cow dung cakes. In highly built-up areas, construction debris, road dust and vehicular exhaust add to the problem
Situation in India
A neglected aspect of urban air pollution control is the non-conformance with the Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, notified to sustainably manage debris that is dumped in the cities, creating severe particulate pollution.
Steps that can be taken
Following measures can be taken to lower PM10 and PM2.5 levels
- Construction & Demolition waste: The Environment Ministry has highlighted the role that debris can play as a resource. Municipal and government contracts are, under the rules, required to utilise up to 20 per cent materials made from construction and demolition waste, and local authorities must place containers to hold debris. This must be implemented without delay
- Cleaner alternatives: Providing cleaner fuels and scientifically designed cookstoves to those who have no option but to burn biomass, would have a big impact on reducing particulate matter in the northern and eastern States, which are the worst-hit during winter, when biomass is also used for heating
- Greening the cities could be made a mission, involving civil society, with a focus on landscaping open spaces and paving all public areas to reduce dust.
- Comprehensive measurement of these particulates is currently absent in many cities, a lacuna that needs to be addressed
[2]. Not So Clean
Context
Article assesses the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
Author says that,
- Data non-existent: We are 40 per cent through India’s flagship sanitation campaign, it is a good time to assess how much progress the SBM has made. Unfortunately, it is impossible to answer this question because the data simply do not exist.
Why Swachh Survekshan report cannot be relied upon?
- Although the Swachh Survekshan Report, released recently by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, presents statistics claiming to report latrine use, the survey methodology is not credible. Surveyors did not ask a question that makes respondents feel comfortable saying they defecate in the open, and they did not ask about the behaviour of each individual in the household.
Budget allocations to SBM
Accountability Initiative recently released a budget brief tracking SBM allocations and expenditures. They find that from fiscal year 2014-2015, when the SBM started, to fiscal year 2016-2017, allocations to SBM more than tripled.
Spending is less on IEC
Most of the money is going towards latrine construction, and very little towards information, education, and communication (IEC).
- The fraction of spending on IEC has actually fallen since the SBM started, from three per cent of total expenditure in 2014-2015 to one per cent in 2015-2016.
Why IEC should be a major part of SBM?
It is now well known that “untouchability” plays an important role in explaining open defecation. Several studies have found that many rural Indians associate emptying a latrine pit by hand with manual scavenging, work that Dalits have traditionally been compelled to do.
- In light of this situation, rural Indians do not want to use the kinds of latrines that require periodic manual pit emptying, like those promoted by the Indian government.
- That many rural Indians do not want the kinds of latrines promoted by the government suggests that IEC would have to be a key part of promoting latrine use in rural India. Unfortunately, it appears that the little attention paid to IEC activities translates into very low awareness of the goals of the SBM.
Way ahead
Policymakers need to evolve ways to invoke behavioral changes in people by tackling the casteism and norms of purity and pollution that cause open defecation to persist
Conclusion
People are not aware the major goal of SBM is to eliminate open defecation. At its current rate of progress, the SBM is unlikely to achieve the elimination of open defecation.
International
[1]. SAARC summit ‘postponed indefinitely’
Context
Blaming India for derailing the SAARC Summit, Pakistan has announced that the summit scheduled for November 9 and 10 in Islamabad will now be held on an alternate date, even as Sri Lanka joined others in opposing the summit under the “prevailing environment”
Nepal’s position
Nepal has issued an official statement seeking an indefinite postponement of the summit.
Sri Lanka’s position
Sri Lanka condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stresses in this regard the need to deal with the issue of terrorism in a decisive manner.
- The country joined India, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Bangladesh in demanding the summit should not be held.
Afghanistan’s summit
SAARC has to adopt a new approach to ensure security for South Asia. Our previous approach in dealing with terrorism did not work. So Afghanistan has taken the initiative to not participate in the Islamabad Summit. We would like to reach out (to Pakistan) but business as usual cannot continue as global patience with terrorism has grown thin
Pakistan’s position
The decision by India to derail the Summit effectively contradicts India’s own call to fight against poverty in the region. India’s decision to abstain from the Summit on the basis of unfounded assumptions on the Uri incident is a futile effort to divert the attention of the world from the atrocities perpetrated by India in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
[2]. EU ministers approve ratification of Paris climate treaty
European Union ministers approved the ratification of the Paris Agreement at a historic meeting of the Environment Council in Brussels. This decision brings the Paris Agreement closer to entering into force.
The 28 EU member nations together account for close to 12 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Their addition will take the cumulative emissions of ratifying parties well beyond the 55 per cent minimum required for the treaty to enter into force.
The Paris treaty had already crossed the first condition of 55 countries ratifying the treaty to enable its entry into force on September 21 at the UN Secretary-General’s special ratification ceremony organised at the UN headquarters. Thirty one countries submitted their ratification instruments during that ceremony.
Present situation in EU
Presently, only five EU nations have ratified the agreement at the national level
Global situation wrt Paris treaty
- As of now, 61 countries, accounting for almost 48 per cent of global emissions have ratified the deal. India, which accounts for 4.1 per cent of global emissions, has agreed to ratify the deal on October 2, 2016.
- Together with the EU, the total global emissions covered by ratifying parties will make the treaty ready to enter into force, 30 days after all the agreed parties submit their ratification instruments.
ECONOMY
[1]. India may consider Iran’s plan to develop Chabahar airport
India may examine a proposal from Iran to develop the airport at its strategic Chabahar port as part of comprehensive infrastructure development that includes rail-road connectivity to the port.
The Chabahar port
The Chabahar port in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich nation’s southern coast lies outside the Persian Gulf and is easily accessed from India’s western coast bypassing Pakistan. There is already an operational airport at Chabahar. The Iranian delegation to India has asked us whether India would be willing to develop and modernise it.
Background
A “milestone” pact on the strategic Chabahar port in southern Iran that will provide India access to Afghanistan and Europe by passing Pakistan was signed by India and Iran in May 2016
Chabahar port (Source: Daily Mail)
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